


The Spider and the Princess

by CouchNinja



Series: A Little Spider in a Marvelous Universe [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And it's my story, Angst, Because I don't know how they actually work, Because it's fun, But freestyle Elementals, But not quite, Elementals, F/M, Fluff, In the Beginning, Minor Character Death, POV Peter Parker, PTSD, People get injured a lot, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter is an Avenger, So I made the Elementals the way I want, like a lot, peter works for shield, then...
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:14:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 47,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28217535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CouchNinja/pseuds/CouchNinja
Summary: Peter has become and Avenger and is being trained by SHIELD. After he took down the aliens and revealed his identity, he's become famous. He wants to be out helping people, but it's getting harder with the press and paparazzi following him. Most importantly, SHIELD doesn't seem to want to use him as a hero.How can Peter juggle all of this? And does it get any better after a new, world-wide threat arises?And above all, how does a little friend affect him throughout everything?
Relationships: Clint Barton & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Avengers Team, Peter Parker & James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Peter Parker & Original Character
Series: A Little Spider in a Marvelous Universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1970314
Comments: 81
Kudos: 46
Collections: Spider-Man Public Identity Reveal





	1. Chapter 1: Knock Knock

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, Everyone!
> 
> If you're new to my works, welcome. Feel free to keep reading if you want. However, you might get lost whenever it references past events. Especially Peter's past. It's a long story. Literally. Fifty-two chapters worth. I would recommend you check out the prior work in this series. But, if you don't want to, that's fine too. Just have fun with it.
> 
> If you have read To Be Human, welcome back! I'm so glad you're continuing this story with me. I've put a lot of time into it, and I hope it's worth it. I feel like this is a good complimentary story for the first part. It really continues Peter's growth. And the climax is like a yin-yang deal with the previous climax. I really like how it all works out.
> 
> I know I originally said this would be a cute fluff fic, but you know me. Gotta have those emotional beats. I just came up with an idea, and boom. Now we have this emotional rollercoaster ride. But that doesn't start for a little while. I think the action starts around chapter 10. So enjoy the pure fluff while it lasts.
> 
> For posting, I'm hoping to go back to my old schedule of Mondays and Thursdays. We'll see if it stays that way though.
> 
> Anyway. I'll shut up now. Enjoy the first chapter, and feel free to let me know what you think!

Peter groaned loudly as he closed his computer.

Today had been a nightmare.

He had always known the paparazzi were nothing to joke about, but this was ridiculous. They were following him everywhere. You’d think after a week they would back off. But nope. Still going strong.

Peter had tried to get Tony to take care of them, but that hadn’t worked out very well.

“Hey, Dad. Why don’t you just throw some money at them? I’m sure they’ll leave me alone. Then I can do literally anything without them getting in my way.”

Tony placed his coffee mug back on the table and held up a finger. “First off, I do not just ‘throw money’ at people. Second, why on earth would you want that? It’s so much fun. It’s like a game. Trying to dodge all the cameras. And when you can’t, making the biggest show you can out of it.”

Peter huffed and rolled his eyes. “I will never understand how you like this much attention.” He collapsed onto the stool by his father’s workstation. “I just want to go out as Spiderman. Or go see my friends. But they won’t leave me alone.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, kid. There’s no going back. It’s better to just embrace it and find your new normal.”

That wasn’t working very well.

Peter was tired and miserable. He had had so many cameras flashed in his face that he was starting to wonder if he would have a permanent spot in his vision from the light burning his retinas. He wished he could go back to when he was in school with his friends. No fame. No acknowledgement. Just like a normal kid. 

Not that he was normal. He knew he wasn’t, and he’d proudly declared that to the rest of the world. But still. That didn’t mean he wanted this excessive amount of attention.

It was like when he first got to school, and those rumors had gone rampant. Then, they had only wanted to know about the weird new kid. Now, they just wanted to be close to Spiderman or the son of Tony Stark. They didn’t really want to know Peter.

Someone had also given out his contact information, which made everything so much worse. He’d set up a program with Tony that sorted through all of the messages so he only had to read or hear the ones he wanted. He still usually went through all of them though, just so he knew what was going on.

He kept getting emails and text messages about “I would love to get an interview about…” or “I think it would greatly benefit you to start making your own merchandise, and I can help with that…” or “My charity business would love for you to sponsor it so more people will come…” There was nothing wrong with any of those things, but there was just an overabundance of them. It was driving him insane.

By far, the worst had been from his school principal.

Peter had seen the man’s name on the caller ID, so naturally he panicked. Was he in trouble? Was he getting kicked out of school for all the commotion he had caused? What did the man want from him?

Peter picked up the phone.

“Hello. Is this Mister Parker… um, Stark?”

Peter gulped. “Yes, Sir. And Parker is fine, thank you.”

“Alright then.” The man cleared his throat awkwardly on the other end of the line. What did he have to be nervous about? His nervousness made Peter’s nervousness intensify.

“Am I in trouble, Sir?”

“Oh, no no no. Absolutely not. In fact, far from it. I have nothing but high praise for you. Well, except for the dead aliens I had to get cleaned up. And you traumatizing quite a few of my students by beheading said aliens before their eyes. But in the grand scheme of things, that’s really nothing that bad.”

“Oh. Okay. Well….” Peter was confused. What else could the man be calling about?

The principal cleared his throat one more time. “I guess I should get to business. How to start? Wow, I have to say I have never done anything like this. You know how you are this Spiderman, Avenger, hero, role model?”

Nope. No idea.

There was dead silence on the other end of the line.

Peter’s face turned red as he realized he had actually said that out loud. Immediately, he began to splutter out apologies. 

“I am so, so sorry, sir. That slipped out. I never would have meant to say that to you, really. I’ve just been so tired, and I haven’t been able to think straight with so many people trying to get my attention and….”

The principal laughed. “It’s quite alright. It was actually quite humorous. It simply threw me by surprise is all. You’re usually a quite kid. At least, from what I have seen and heard. But it seems you are your father’s son.”

“Oh. Yeah. Thanks.”

Peter was still mentally slapping himself in the head. He still hadn’t learned when to shut up. He was starting to believe he never would.

The principal continued. “Well, as I’m sure you noticed, we used to have a lot of videos trying to encourage our students to become the best versions of themselves.”

Peter chuckled. “Oh yeah. The ones with Steve. Those were the best.” His face fell as he realized where this conversation was going. “No. No. Not happening.”

“Mister Parker, I truly think your word would mean a lot to your peers and the community. Obviously, you wouldn’t be doing the same messages, since you are still a student yourself. But just a few. Maybe about standing up for those around you. Or antibullying. Or warnings against drugs. Or simply some school pride. Just think how well those would go over.”

Peter was shaking his head. Then, he realized the man couldn’t see that through the phone. “No, sir. I really don’t think that would go well.”

Peter suddenly felt bad for shoving those videos in Steve’s face. This had to be karma. And if Steve ever found out about this, it would be game over.

“Oh, I’m sure it would go much better than you think. And it won’t just be for our school. Spiderman’s messages would go all over the country. Imagine the impact you could have. And….”

Peter had stopped listening. He wanted nothing to do with that. He was too famous for his liking as it was. He didn’t need to be any more so.

“I’m sorry, but I would like to decline that offer.”

The principal tried in vain a little bit longer. Peter’s anxiety was growing by the second, so he finally decided to hang up.

Thankfully, the topic hadn’t been brought back up by anyone, but Peter was sure this luck wouldn’t last. Good thing he had the whole summer break to avoid the principal.

Peter felt his phone buzz beside him. At first, he was annoyed. Then, he realized this wasn’t a message buzz. This was an alert. A smile spread across his face as he grabbed his phone. 

JARVIS was notifying him of a bus that had crashed on the side of a bridge. It was currently suspended half-way over the edge, but it could fall at any second, crushing the people inside and below.

Peter slipped on his suit and rushed out his bedroom window. Within two minutes, he was at the scene. He heard people shouting his name in the same distracting way they had been since the Scripa attack. He ignored it. He had other things to focus on.

He analyzed the scene. The best option would be for him to somehow pull the bus back up onto the bridge. Not too hard, right? 

He landed behind the bus and shot some webs at it. He started to pull, but the weight was greater than he anticipated. He dug his heels into the concrete as he started to slide with the bus. Okay. Maybe not as easy as he first thought.

He spun himself around so he could pull over his shoulder. Not sure why, but he always found it easier that way. It was probably some physics thing. He made a mental note to look it up at some point. 

With a lot of effort and time, he managed to get the bus back to safety. He pried the doors open and helped the passengers out one-by-one.

He turned around to swing away but stopped in shock as a light flashed in his face. The press had managed to sneak onto the scene. This was not only annoying as they could have gotten in his way, but it was dangerous for them. If this had been a fight, they would have been in serious trouble.

A reporter stepped forward. “Would you mind giving us a word about this event?”

Another stepped forward. “How have your duties as the local, daily hero changed now that your identity is known.”

“Would you mind stepping aside for an interview?”

“Could you tell us any news about the Avengers? How are they handling everything that has happened?”

Peter looked above him for a way of escape. He aimed a webshooter at the closest tower and fired. He swiftly ascended above the mass of people and swung back to the tower. 

Still in his suit, he crawled onto his bed. He was exhausted. Mentally and physically. He decided he needed sleep. Who needed a normal sleep schedule? Why not go to bed at 3:00 in the afternoon? 

Peter jolted awake as he heard JARVIS speaking to him.

“I’m sorry. Could you repeat that?” he mumbled as he rubbed his eyes.

“You appear to have a guest requesting permission to enter your room.”

Peter scrunched his face in confusion. “Seem to?”

“You do. Would you like me to send them to your floor?”

“Okayyy. I guess send them up.”

Peter sat on his bed, trying to think of who it could be. It definitely wasn’t one of the Avengers. They would call him to them. And it wasn’t anyone from the press or paparazzi. They wouldn’t be allowed to talk to JARVIS. 

In fact, no one except the Avengers and a few high-ranking people had access to JARVIS. That meant the AI must have gone against his programming. He had deemed this person worthy of his help, which was a rare occurrence. So, who was it?

There was a rhythmic knock at his door. It was a dainty knock. Like the one from that princess in Frozen.

“Come in,” he called.

When the door opened, Peter’s jaw dropped. Okay. Definitely hadn’t seen that one coming.

“Emma?”


	2. Chapter 2: But I Want to Play

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter brings me so much joy. I crack myself up.
> 
> Emma might seem a lot more outgoing in this than she did in To Be Human. That's largely because she is closer to Peter now, and it's a different environment. I know I was like that when I was her age. I was super shy when I first met you, but once I warmed up to you, there was no holding me back.
> 
> Also, in my work, I usually interact with kids older than six. I think I did well with writing her as a younger kid, but my apologizes if I'm way off. Even if it is off, I hope you can enjoy it for the cuteness and fun it provides.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter!

Emma ran to him and tried hopping onto his bed. It was a little bit of a struggling seeing as the bed was much too high for her. But she made it anyway.

She was wearing a puffy purple princess dress. Like the kind you wear on Halloween. Or at least he assumed that’s when you’d wear it. That’s what he’d seen in the movies.

Peter gawked down at her. “How did you even get in here?”

Ned’s little sister smiled up at him. “The very nice ceiling man helped me.” She tilted her head back and screamed at the top of her lungs – which was pretty impressive for her size. “HELLO, MISTER CEILING MAN!”

“Hello, Princess Callily,” the AI replied in a voice sweeter than his usual tone.

Peter face palmed. “JARVIS. You have got to be kidding me.”

“That is what the adorable little girl requested to be called. That is what she shall be.”

“Why did you even let her in? You never let anyone in.”

“Technically, she was granted access. She jumped up and down in front of a security camera on the main floor long enough for Miss Romanoff to see the child and grant her access.”

Peter fell backwards, rubbing his hands over his face. “Nat’s watching this right now, isn’t she?”

“Indeed.”

“HI CEILING LADY!”

Startled, Peter flew off the bed and wound up on the floor. “How do you make that much noise? You’re tiny!”

“It’s a talent. My mommy says I could be a singer cause I project. You wanna hear me sing?”

“No, I’m really goo….”

“Ooooooooooooh say can you SEEEEE. By the DAWN’S early liiiiiiIIIIIIGHT. What so PROOOOOUDly we HAAAAAiled. BY the TWIlIght’s last gleeeeeeeeeeeeemING! Whose bro….”

Peter grabbed Emma by the shoulders (it was more a gentle touch due to his fear of crushing her). “Wow. That’s so great. You should definitely save it for a performance.” He gave her a smile which he hoped masked his ever-growing stress at this interaction.

Emma beamed up at him, smiling like nothing he had ever seen before. “You really think so? I’m so happy!”

She leapt off the bed and began to run around the boy’s room, touching everything. Peter wondered if this was what being a parent felt like. This was exhausting, and she’d barely been with him a minute. She had been much more manageable back at her own house.

Emma spun around, a look of childish determination and urgency on her face. “Where’s the kitchen?”

“Just around the corner,” Peter answered. “Are you hungry? We can go get you….”

“Not the real one. The one for tea parties.”

Peter blinked at her for a few moments. “I don’t have one.”

Emma gasped as if he just told her a puppy had died. “Then what do you have tea parties with?”

“I don’t have them.”

“You had one with me.”

“Yeah. That was my first.”

“How could you not have your own tea parties?”

“Quite easily, if I’m being honest.”

“For Christmas, I’m gonna ask for a play kitchen and tea toys set just so I can give it to you.”

Peter felt his heart melt. Emma was so sweet. He quickly shook his head though. “No. That’s not necessary, Emma. I….”

JARVIS cut him off. “Miss Romanoff would like me to remind you that she asked to be referred to as ‘Princess Callily’.”

“Of course she did,” Peter huffed. Realization hit him, and he slowly looked down at the girl. “How did you get JARVIS to call you that?”

Emma began to skip around once more. “The ceiling man asked me if I was lost. I said no. I knew I needed to be here because I had watched you swing to this building. That meant you were here, which meant I was in the right place. I just needed to find you. But the building was very big, and none of the big scary people would help me. So I thought I would just jump around until you found me or someone else helped me. Mister ceiling man said ceiling lady liked me and would help me, and he asked for my name. I said Emma, and then ceiling man asked Emma who. So I said the name only you would know was me, cause you would know it from our tea party.”

Peter stared at her in amazement, working through everything she had just said. “You know, for a little kid, you sure thought that out a lot.”

Emma glared up at him, placing her hands on her hips. “I’m six. I’m not a little kid anymore.”

“But you are just a kid.” He paused before mumbling to himself. “I sound like my dad…. Is this why he always annoyed when he says I make him sound like his dad? If so, I am so sorry.”

“I’m a big kid now. I made it here, didn’t I?”

“Do your parents know you’re here?” Peter ran his fingers over his face. “I cannot believe I’m saying this, my word. I literally get so annoyed when people ask me that.”

“Well, you shouldn’t say it then,” Emma said matter-of-factly. “That makes you a hippopotamus.” She nodded her head as if she had just uttered the truest of facts.

“I think you mean a hypocrite. Which is true.” He paused. “But it would be much cooler to be a hippo.”

“You can’t be a hippo and a monkey.”

“I’m not a monkey. I’m a spider. See.” He turned around and pointed to the symbol on the back of his suit, which he was still wearing.

“You don’t have eight legs,” Emma said straight faced.

“Well, yeah. But I have spider webs.”

“And I have on cheetah print boots.” She grabbed his hand for balance as she lifted one foot towards his face. If it hadn’t been for his enhanced reflexes, he would have been kicked in the face. “If I ran here, does that mean I’m a cheetah?”

“No, it doesn’t work like that. And is that how you got here? You ran?”

“Yeah. I was at the park a few streets down for Chloe’s birthday party and you swung by. I wanted to come play with you. I missed you, and you’re a lot more fun than Chloe.”

“You mean to tell me you just left a birthday party without telling anyone?” Peter was mortified. Both of them were going to get in so much trouble for this.

“Well, yeah. I knew it would be okay.”

“Oh yeah? And what makes you say that.”

“When Ned got in trouble for going off to that party when he wasn’t supposed to, Mommy said he did it because he followed your example. All this past week, everyone had been saying how people should act like you. If you’ve stuck off before, that means I can leave too.”

Once again, Peter was floored by her reasoning. He shook his head. Now was not the time. 

He quickly picked up the girl, who squealed in surprise. “Come on. I’m taking you back.”

“But we haven’t played yet.” Emma looked at him, giant pleading eyes tugging at his heart. “I wanted to play again.”

“Tell you what. If you tell me what park to bring you too and promise never to leave without telling anyone where you are, I will come play with you.”

Emma’s face lit up like a star. She pointed to his Spiderman suit. “Even in your fun, hero suit?”

Peter chuckled. “Sure. Why not. In my fun, hero suit.”

Soon enough, they were back at the park. The party had just ended, and Misses Leeds was frantically searching for her daughter.

“Mommy!” Emma ran towards her mother.

The woman spun around and towards her. “Oh, baby, come here.” She picked the little girl up in her arms, littering the top of her head with kisses.

After a while, she noticed Peter standing there. “You found her? You brought her to me?”

Peter shuffled his feet as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Well, yeah. Sort of.” He wasn’t technically lying. He did find her… in his room. And he did bring her.

Next thing the boy knew, he was being pulled into an embrace. “Thank you so much. I can’t believe I ever thought you were a bad kid. You know you can come by any time.”

“Thanks, Misses Leeds. I’ll take you up on that sometime.” He looked at Emma, who was looking at him hopefully.

“Come for the tea party?” she questioned.

Peter smiled back at her. That joy was contagious. “Yeah. For that tea party.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everybody!


	3. Chapter 3: Play Pretend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peter's so sweet. He just wants to make Emma happy. Maybe he doesn't think things through at the end, but hey. His heart is in the right place.
> 
> Hope you like the chapter!

Peter knocked on the door. They were three solid knocks. He wanted to seem confident. Because he was not. He had no idea how this was going to go. 

It was a Sunday afternoon. Ned had gone to see his cousin for the weekend, so he was going to have that dreaded tea party. It wasn’t that he didn’t like spending time with Ned’s little sister. He did. He loved the precious little girl. There was just this nagging feeling that this wasn’t going to go well.

And he had come to learn that that feeling was not something to be ignored.

The door opened, revealing a surprised Misses Leeds.

“Peter. Well, hello. I guess Ned didn’t tell you he isn’t here. He should be back later this afternoon though.”

Peter shuffled his feet. “Oh, yeah. Thank you, but I know that. I’m actually here for Emma.”

The woman tilted her head, clearly confused. “Okay,” she said slowly as she stepped aside to grant the boy entrance.

“Thank you.”

Once the door was closed behind him, Peter began to explain himself. “You see, when I found Emma the other day, she told me how she had been really wanting to play with me again. And I promised her I would come and do that.”

“I see.” Misses Leeds rested her hand on Peter’s shoulder, making sure she had his absolute attention. “You know, she is very confused by this whole Spiderman thing. In her mind, you are just Ned’s cool friend who is all over the news for his pretend, play time. She thinks you just go out on the streets and play fun, adventure, hero games. She keeps saying she wants to go out there with you. And the fact that she ran away the other day has me very worried. If you could just talk to her and try and convince her what you’re doing isn’t some big game, I would very much appreciate it.”

Peter nodded his head earnestly. “Absolutely, Misses Leeds.”

He had never really considered that. He knew that people looked up to him. Obviously. He was continuously bombarded with people pointing that out. But he’d never thought how it could be confusing to a little kid. It also didn’t help that he hadn’t grown up like a normal kid, so he wasn’t entirely sure how they processed things.

The mother smiled at him and let go of his shoulder. “Well then. I believe Emma is in her room if you’d like to go to her.”

Peter nodded his head hastily. “Yes. Thank you. I’ll do that.”

He navigated his way through the house, which wasn’t very hard. It wasn’t that large, and he remembered it pretty well from the last time he was there. Reaching Emma’s door, he saw it was cracked. He knocked – much more quietly than he had at the front door – and called Emma’s name.

He heard a squeal of excitement followed by some loud footsteps and the door being thrown all the way open.

Emma stood there, smiling up at him. She was wearing another fluffy princess dress. It was pink this time.

Suddenly, her smile dimmed. “You’re not wearing your pretend suit,” she said sullenly.

Peter looked down. “Oh yeah. One sec.” He tugged his sweatshirt over his head, revealing his Spidey suit beneath.

Squealing, Emma jumped up and down in excitement. “Yeah! Play party!” She grabbed Peter’s hand and yanked him into the room so violently he nearly face-planted.

“Tea party! Tea party! Princess Callily and…” she turned to look at Peter. “You do good things on the news. That means you’re a knight, not a prince. So you’re Knight Minshun.”

Peter cringed. It had been cute hearing her use that name before. It had given him a sense of pride that he was able to recognize it as his prior alias and not his current self. Except, he now knew that wasn’t really his old self. It would always be part of him. And that part of him was currently trying to recover from the whole Scripa deal. So, yeah. Not the same warm-fuzzy feeling.

As Peter sat down on the floor, he did recognize that the ‘knight’ part could lead to a good conversation.

“How do you know all about the knight stuff that I do, Emma?”

The little princess placed her plastic tea pot on the fake stove and turned the nobs to pretend boil. “It’s everywhere. All over the news. And mommy’s phone. And mommy and daddy talk about it all the time. How they think it’s scary it was you. And how they hope Ned doesn’t get pulled into it.”

Peter was a little thrown off by that last part. He had always been so excited for Ned to be his guy in the chair that he didn’t think how a parent might feel about that. By no means would he ever let anything happen to Ned on purpose, but clearly he couldn’t control that all the time. And if his family – especially Tony – proved anything about having kids, it was that adults would protect their own at all costs. They would never want anything to happen to Ned.

Peter would make sure to bring it up with Ned later. For now, he had to focus on Emma.

“What do you think about it, Emma?”

Emma pulled her pot off the stove and waved away imaginary steam. “I think that you look really cool, and it looks fun, and if Ned is working with you, I want to too.”

Peter took the tiny teacup Emma was offering him and placed it on the low table. “That would not be safe. It is a very, very scary job. And it is not one for little girls.”

Emma placed her hands on her hips and puffed out her cheeks. She was trying to be threatening, but she really just looked like a cute puffer fish. “I am not a little girl. I’m a big girl now. And my teacher said that girls can do anything boys can do.”

Peter nodded his head. “You’re right. Girls can be just as good as boys. Even better, sometimes. But that isn’t why you can’t do what I do. I am… not normal. I was trained in a way no kid should be. Now, it turned out okay for me, but that doesn’t mean it would for anyone else. I don’t want you getting hurt trying to do something you simply haven’t been trained and designed to do.”

Emma sat down at the table, taking a sip of the delicious air in her cup. Peter followed her lead.

The girl tapped her chin as she thought. “So, you were trained? Like a gymnast?”

Peter nodded. That wouldn’t have been the first occupation he would have thought to compare it to, but he would roll with it. “Yeah. Yeah, something like that.”

Emma offered Peter a plate of what he was guessing was supposed to be cookies. He wasn’t really sure since he couldn’t see what wasn’t there. He still pretended to pick one up to please her. Once she grabbed one – she was holding it like a tiny sandwich, so Peter switched hand positioning to match hers – she bit into it and chomped her teeth together.

“I’ve always wanted to do gymnastics. My friend Lilly does it. She’s been talking about how her coach is teaching her a flip. She says it’s super fun.”

Peter nodded slowly. “Yeah. I think they’re lots of fun. But I’m a little biased.” 

Emma perked up as a thought struck her. “Maybe you could teach me, and then it wouldn’t be not safe for me to do it anymore. And I could go out and do it with you.”

Peter laid his imaginary sandwich on his plastic plate. “There’s a little more to it than that. I would support you learning gymnastics. It’s a great way to get strong and have fun. But my job involves things a lot more scary and dangerous than just flipping around. Like fighting and bad guys. Many people get hurt.”

Emma began to fiddle with the hem of her dress. “I don’t like that.”

“Yeah. And that’s why I need you to promise me you won’t come looking for me anymore. If you follow me swinging like you did the other day, you could get yourself into a very bad place. You have to be safe.”

Emma looked him square in the eyes. “So do you.”

“I am.” Peter knew it was a lie, but he wanted to protect her from the truth. That was too scary for a little kid to grasp. The concept of continually throwing your life on the line. Knowing you might never come back. He would know. He faced it way too young.

Emma reached up and messed with her teacup, not yet taking a sip as she was too busy thinking. There seemed to be more behind the scene than her simply worrying about him being safe. He decided to ask about it.

“What is it Emma?”

She puckered her lips before she finally mumbled, “Does that mean I can’t play with you anymore?”

Peter’s heart melted into a puddle on the floor. She looked so heartbroken. “You can always play with me, Emma.”

Emma practically glowed at his reply. “Really?”

Peter nodded, smiling at her in reassurance.

Emma started swinging her legs in giddiness. She ended up kicking him in the shins repeatedly, but he didn’t mind.

“Could you maybe still play pretend with me? With your pretend suit? It’s really cool.”

“Well, this isn’t a pretend suit. It’s real. It’s my hero suit. Like… like knight armor. But if you like it, I can wear it. Just for you.”

Emma’s smile intensified. “Yay! Could I have a not-pretend suit? Except, I don’t want a knight suit. I want a princess suit.”

Peter chuckled. His first instinct was to say no. After all, what use would she have for a spider suit? And it would only encourage her to play hero, which might not be good if she ever arrived at the scene of a dangerous situation.

But, she was looking at him with such innocent anticipation. And, really, what was the harm? She would just run around looking cute. Who knew. Maybe if she ran around feeling like a hero, she would be content to not actually be one. At the very least, it would make her feel like a princess.

“Sure. Why not. As long as you promise to just use it as an outfit around the house.”

Emma started doing a happy dance in her chair. “Im’ma have a princess suit! Im’ma have a princess suit! Im’ma have a princess suit! Im’ma have….”

Peter found himself excited to give her this suit. Naturally, it wouldn’t actually do anything. Just look cute. But with the joy she had over the thought, he couldn’t wait to see what she would be like when she actually got it.

He thought he had definitely made the right choice in saying yes.


	4. Chapter 4: Dinner Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh, I love this chapter so much! It's a little short, but it's all fluff. Plus, this is basically the only scene in this story with all the Avengers family together (usually it's just Peter with a few of them or with other characters), so enjoy it.
> 
> And Happy New Years, everybody! Here's to hoping 2021 treats you well!
> 
> Enjoy!

“Peter, we’ve told you. No work at the supper table. Come on. Put the tablet up.”

“Oh, yeah. Sure. You’re one to talk,” Peter replied. He sent Tony a glare as he clicked the save button and turned off the device.

Tony gestured to the table smugly. “Do you see a tablet? I don’t think so.”

“Yeah,” Clint began. “Because you’re working it with your foot on the floor.”

Tony’s mouth dropped, and he sent the smirking agent a death glare. “This is treason.”

“Literally everyone can tell. It’s not a secret,” Natasha stated before shoving another bite of mashed potatoes in her mouth.

Tony waved his fork in protest. “You know what, I don’t like this topic. Let’s go back to Peter.” He turned to face his son. “What are you working on so earnestly that you’ve been locked away all day?”

Trying his best not to look suspicious, Peter cut into his food. “Oh. Just a design for something.”

“Oh, can I see?” Bruce chimed in. “I always love looking at your work. Besides, I might be able to help.”

“Yeah, me too,” Tony said. “Science trio. Fun times. Hit me with it, kid.”

Peter stabbed a piece of chicken with his fork, preparing to shove it in his mouth after this sentence so he wouldn’t have to say any more. “No thanks. It’s just for fun. You’ll probably never see it.”

“Yeah, boys,” Natasha said.

Peter looked up at her skeptically. There was something in her tone that made him worry over what she was going to say next. And the look of pure mischief she was sending his way did nothing to curb that feeling.

She continued. “Let the poor boy make a gift for his little girl friend by himself.”

Peter sent the ex-assassin the meanest glare he could muster, but it was no use. She had already accomplished her goal.

“Oh my gosh! Who is it?” Pepper questioned, absolutely beaming with excitement. “Is it that pretty girl from your school? What’s her name, Mary?”

“MJ. And no. We’re not really dating. Well, not yet. And I’m not making it for her.”

“So, let me get this straight.” Steve interjected. “You are making a gift for one girl, but you want to date another?”

“What? No. Well. I mean, technically, yeah. But, you can’t really compare the two like that. It’s just not the same.”

Natasha opened her mouth again, and Peter immediately knew it was trouble. “So, is that why you snuck off to her house all afternoon? Cause you knew her brother wasn’t there, and you could be alone with her?”

Natasha and Peter were now having a full-blown staring contest. The woman knew exactly what she was doing. She was wording everything in the worst way possible just so Peter had to work his way out of it, making a fool of himself in the process. And he was just stupid enough to let it happen. Her and her stupid mind games.

Pepper smacked Tony in the arm. “Why are you raising our son to be a playboy? He is too sweet for that.”

Tony looked at her in shock. “Excuse me? You think that was my doing? No way. That’s on him. I didn’t know anything about this.”

“Well, he clearly had to learn it from somewhere. And it wasn’t me.”

“Peter,” Tony leaned towards the boy, ignoring his wife now. “I understand you are going through a lot of change right now. With all this Spiderman stuff coming into light, and with….”

Steve held up a finger. “If you start giving the birds-and-the-bees talk to your kid at the supper table, I’m going to leave and never come back.”

Clint smirked. “Do it, Tony.”

Steve glared at the archer. “Really, Barton?”

“What can I say? I like your room better than mine.”

Tony waved his hands in the air, trying to pull the attention back to him. “Okay, first off, not what I was going to do. And I think we should let Peter speak up for himself for a moment. What are you making?”

“A suit. It doesn’t actually do anything, but she really wanted one. And if she’s content, it works out better for everyone.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, if I give her the suit and start seeing her more, she won’t come after me anymore.”

“Come after you? So, she’s your stalker? You’re making a suit with my money for your stalker?”

“What? No. She just didn’t know any better. But it’s okay now. I told her how dangerous it was, and she said she wouldn’t come after me.”

“I don’t remember hearing that,” Natasha said. “Was that before or after she sang you the national anthem?”

“Oh, that was her?” Clint questioned. When he turned to Nat for confirmation, she nodded. “I thought Peter was just having a really awkward patriotic moment.”

Peter started banging his head on the table. “I hate all of you guys.” All he had wanted to do was finish his design. Why did everything always go south with him?

Natasha leaned her elbows onto the table, resting her chin in her hands. “You know you love me.”

“Not today, I don’t.”

Tony gesticulated wildly with his arms again. “Hold on, just one second. This girl. Was in my tower?”

Peter started playing with his fork. “Well, yeah. I didn’t know who it was until she was already in my room.”

Tony stared at his son in disbelief. “Well, how exactly did she get in then? Is she a hacker and a stalker?”

Peter perked up at this. Now, it was his turn to smirk and turn to Natasha. “Actually, Nat here let her in.”

Tony spun to face the agent. “What on earth, Romanoff?”

Natasha pointed her fork at him. “You should have seen this kid, Stark. Even JARVIS couldn’t resist the Princess Callily.”

“There are princesses in New York?” Bruce asked aloud.

“She’s six,” Peter said. “She can be whatever she wants.”

“Even a superhero?” Natasha questioned.

“No,” Peter answered. “I made that very clear to her. But she still wanted to play with me, and she really liked my suit. That’s why I’m making it. If it makes her happy to have a pink, spider-themed gymnastics suit to run around the house in, that’s fine by me. If she’s happy and staying safe, so am I.”

Everyone seemed to be content with that answer. Thank goodness. They all put their focus back on their food for the time being.

Then, Natasha turned to Peter once more. “So, tell us about you and MJ.”

With a final glare, Peter picked up his plate and the tablet he’d stowed under his chair, and he stormed into the elevator. He would just eat in his room where he wasn’t going to be picked on anymore.


	5. Chapter 5: Adventures in Babysitting Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: *thinks up title* *starts belting out and dancing in my chair* "I'm living on the wild side, wild side! No telling what I might find, might find! No stopping cause it feels right, feels right! I'm living on the Oooooooooooo"........
> 
> Nope. Just me? Lol. I love that movie/song.
> 
> Anyway. This is a shorter chapter. It's basically just leading up to what happens in the next one. (Peter doesn't know what he's getting himself into) But I still really like it and thinks it's cute.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Peter landed heavily on the floor after climbing through his window.

“Woo. That was a nice patrol.”

“Oh yeah!” Ned said through the com piece. He had been monitoring Peter’s patrols as of late. It was mainly just for fun, but he was a big help when it came to finding problems in the hero’s vicinity. Also, it was just nice to have someone to talk to. It made the dull moments pass more quickly.

Peter had talked to Ned about him being the guy in the chair. He confessed that he didn’t want Ned to get in any danger. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if something happened and it was because of him. Ned said he understood this, and he wouldn’t go out in the field with Peter. And he would leave any major threats be – like that would happen; he would pester Peter about it until he spilled everything. But for now, there was no harm in just talking and looking out for his friend.

Suddenly, Peter heard a faint, higher voice from the opposite end of the com link.

“Are you talking to Peter?”

Ned groaned. “No, Emma. Go away.”

“But I want to play with Peter again. HEY, PETER!”

Peter grimaced as her powerful voice resonated through his earpieces. He didn’t say anything though. She didn’t know how advanced the com link was and that she didn’t need to speak that load. “Hey, Emma.”

“CAN YOU COME PLAY WITH ME AGAIN?”

Peter chuckled, even though his ears were ringing. “Sure thing, Emma.”

“TOMORROW?”

Ned spoke again. “You’re spending the day with your babysitter tomorrow, Emma. I’m pretty sure Peter doesn’t want to come over for that.”

There was a soft huff. “Peter can be my babysitter. CAN’T YOU PETER?”

Peter thought for a moment. He didn’t have anything better to do tomorrow. It couldn’t be that hard, right? He had interacted with her on his own twice now, and neither of those had gone too badly. Maybe it would even be fun.

“Sure. Why not.”

“Peter, you really don’t have to do that,” his friend said. “She’ll get over it.”

“No, really. It’s fine. It’ll be fun.”

“YAY! YAY! YAY!” Peter could hear her jumping around on the other end. “CAN I COME OVER TO YOUR HOUSE? IT’S BETTER FOR GYMNASTICS CAUSE IT’S BIGGER.”

“Emma,” Ned hissed. “You can’t just invite yourself over to someone’s house. Especially the Avenger’s tower. And why would you need room for gymnastics? You don’t do gymnastics.”

“Well, I’ve already been there, so it’s fine. And because Peter promised to teach me gymnastics.”

“I don’t remember saying that,” Peter interjected. He had agreed to playing with her and giving her a pretend suit. That was it.

“WELL, YOU DID. AND YOU CAN’T BACK OUT NOW. I ALREADY TOLD LILLY AFTER SHE WAS BRAGGING AND BEING MEAN THAT I WOULD BEAT HER BUTT AFTER YOU TAUGHT ME.”

Peter nodded to himself in approval. Teaching her so she could be like him. That was a big no. But teaching her so she could beat some other kid in their own game. That was something he would get behind.

“You know what, sure. I guess just tell me what time I need to pick you up. If that’s alright with your parents.”

“YAY! I’LL GO ASK MOMMY!” Peter heard her footsteps fading in the background.

There was a pause before Ned spoke up. “What just happened?”

“I have no idea, but I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I guess so.”

Peter heard Emma’s footsteps approaching once more. “MY MOMMY SAID SHE WAS OKAY IF YOU BABYSAT ME! SHE SAID TO GET HERE AT 10:30!”

“Okay. Well, I guess I’ll see you two then. Bye, guys. I’m going to sleep.”

After they all bid each other goodnight, Peter turned off the com and slipped out of his suit. He grabbed a quick snack from the snack drawer he had. He technically wasn’t supposed to keep food in his room since there was a giant kitchen right outside his door. But no one paid that close of attention, and the kitchen just seemed too far away sometimes. 

Peter glanced at the clock. This was early for him to go to bed, but he decided to anyway. He had a feeling he would need extra rest for his day tomorrow. He curled into bed and drifted to sleep.

The next morning, Peter woke up to an empty house. Well, apart from Pepper. But she was already down doing work. 

Everyone else had gone to some Avengers, SHIELD something or another. A tiny bit of Peter was worried that meant something bad was coming for him again, but he decided to ignore it. They had promised to tell him if something like that was coming ever again. He was an Avenger, and he’d been training with SHIELD. He would be on the front lines with everyone else. Besides, there were no Scripa or Camolians left to come for him.

After a quick breakfast of burnt eggs and toast, Peter rushed to the bus station. He figured it would be better to take Emma on the bus than to swing her again. Yeah, he’d swung her before, but that was only because of necessity.

The entire ride, he felt people staring at him, pointing and whispering. He was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses – courtesy of Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers – but they didn’t seem to be working. Like he knew they wouldn’t. Why did he even try something so stupid?

Soon enough, he reached his stop and hopped off. Before he could draw too much attention and get stopped, he sprinted towards the Leeds’ house.

Once there, he gave his standard three knocks. Then, he waited. 

He heard someone yell they were coming. A few moments later, the door opened to reveal Misses Leeds. 

“Hello, Peter,” she greeted. She beckoned him inside, and he stepped forward. “I have to say, I was surprised when Emma said you offered to babysit her. I would have liked a little more notice of the change, but I suppose it’s okay this time.”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. I mean, I was sort of surprised too. But she got so excited at the thought. And I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

The woman checked to make sure Emma wasn’t there before she spoke again. “I don’t know what you told her before, but thank you. She still loves to see everything you do, but she seems to realize it’s not pretend. She knows you’re a hero, and she is not. Hopefully, we won’t have that problem anymore. Although, she is suddenly very interested in gymnastics. Hopefully, she won’t end up hurting herself with that instead.”

Peter chuckled. “Here’s to hoping.”

Before long, Emma came out. Misses Leeds gave Peter some instructions and bid them goodbye. 

The two set off towards the tower. On the way, Peter kept having to take detours to avoid paparazzi. That would be a nightmare with Emma. Thankfully, the little girl didn’t question it and just did whatever he told her. She just seemed happy to be going on this adventure.

Once they were back at the tower, they went up to the Stark’s personal floor. After that whole supper fiasco, Peter had no intentions of letting Natasha anywhere near this child. That would just fuel her. She didn’t need anything else to torture him with. By going up to his floor, he ensured that Natasha wouldn’t see her when she came back to the tower.

Right off the bat, Emma was practically bouncing off the walls. She was so full of energy. 

“Can we start gymnastics now?” she asked, bouncing on her toes since she couldn’t stand still any longer.

“Sure thing. Just one second.” Peter walked over to the couch and chairs and picked them up. He walked to the edge of the room placed them back down so there was more space. 

When he turned around, Emma was gaping at him. Her eyes were full of wonder. “I don’t think I can do that.”

“Well, good thing you don’t have to. That’s what you got me for.” Peter smiled down at the little ball of joy.

She smiled back at him. She ran to him and hugged his legs firmly. “I’m glad I have you as my best friend hero.”

Peter smiled down at her. It amazed him how she viewed him like that. It was nice not to be seen as some grand, out of this world superhero. Or be seen as a soldier. Or a freak or a weirdo or a nerd or anything else someone might think of him. Nope. He was her friend who taught her how to how to beat that other girl in gymnastics. And yeah, he was a hero. But he was a friend hero.

Peter ruffled her hair, and she let go of his legs.

“Come on. Let’s have some fun.”


	6. Chapter 6: Rolls, Princesses, and Cookies... Oh My

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took a little bit of gymnastics when I was younger... I did not make it very far. I am by no means built for that kind of athleticism. So if all the gymnastics stuff in horribly off in this story, my apologies. I am going off of very distant memories and google. Just roll with it, like I have.
> 
> The whole frosting fiasco that ensues... yeah. I wrote that scene the night after I did that exact thing in real life. Lol. Moral of the story: Check what kind of sugar you are using when you're cooking/baking.
> 
> I love the two of them together so much. Emma can get literally anything she wants when it comes to Peter. Within reason, of course. But it's still so cute.
> 
> Hope you like the chapter!

By one o’clock, Emma was doing forward rolls all around the room. Like, for the past ten minutes, she had just been rolling, continually getting less and less coordinated as she got dizzy.

Peter felt pretty accomplished with his teaching. Not that it was a very hard move. Although, the one thing PE had taught him was that most people struggled with what he thought was easy. So, maybe she was truly doing something grand. Who knew. 

But even if it was the most basic thing any human could do, he would still tell Emma how great she was for doing it.

Once she couldn’t roll anymore, she collapsed onto the floor giggling. She stayed like that for a moment before rolling onto her side. Eagerly, she gazed up at the boy.

“I’m hungry,” she said as she blew a stray section of hair out of her face.

Peter opened his mouth to say ‘good for you,’ but then he realized this was a little girl, and she might be hurt instead of amused. Just to be safe, he changed his response to, “Well, what are we gonna do about that?”

Emma propped herself up on her elbows. “Well, we should eat.”

“What would you like to eat?”

Emma looked at him, eyes wide with wonder. “I get to pick? My normal babysitter never lets me pick.”

Peter squatted down so that he was at her level. “Well, today’s your lucky day. Pick anything you want.”

“Anything?”

“Anything.”

Emma thought for a moment before smiling. “Chicken nuggets!” she cried.

Peter’s thought back to when he first arrived at the tower and had been given the same choice. That had been almost a year ago now. That was crazy to think about. However, he had said stew. And bread. Because he didn’t know anything better at the time. He smiled as he recalled Tony saying he was a kid, so he should eat kid food, and then they ate pizza. Wow, he had come a long way from that point.

Peter snapped back to the present when he felt something touch his arm. “Are you okay?” Emma asked, pure childish worry emanating from her very soul.

Peter smiled at her. “Oh, yeah. Just thinking.” He stood up and reached out his hand for her to grab. “Let’s get some chicken nuggets.”

He searched the freezer in the until he found one of those jumbo, family bags of frozen nuggets. He was glad Pepper had picked some up. Tony hated them. He said they were too cheap and tasted nasty. Peter liked them though. Especially if he wanted something quick.

Peter dumbed about half the bag onto a tray and stuck them in the stove. There was no way they would all fit in the microwave. Besides, they tasted better this way.

Emma looked between the boy and the tray in shock. “There’s no way we can eat all those,” she commented.

Peter crossed his arms in front of his chest, a smirk spreading across his lips. “Try me.”

While they waited, Peter put the couch back into its proper place and flipped on the TV. He let Emma pick what she wanted to watch. She settled on some show called Sophia the First. She started dancing around to the theme song, and she screamed the lyrics at the top of her lungs. 

He had to admit, it was adorable. And the show itself wasn’t bad either.

Once the nuggets were cooked, they settled onto the couch to eat. Emma ate six, and Peter ate the rest of the tray. He was about to get more food when Emma curled up against him. It was so cute and sweet that he couldn’t bear to move her. 

In the middle of their third episode, Emma lifted her head and looked up at Peter. “Can we have desert?” she asked.

“That sounds great,” Peter admitted. “What do you want?”

Emma thought for a moment. She gasped as a thought hit her. She jumped onto his lap, placing her hands on his shoulders and looking him square in the eyes.

“Anything?” she questioned.

Peter gave her an unsure look but replied, “Anything.”

Emma hopped off the couch and bounced on her toes. She had clearly regained her expended energy from those six chicken nuggets. “Chocolate chip cookies!”

Peter smiled. That did sound pretty good. “Why not. Let’s go.”

The two rushed to the kitchen and began their search for materials. To Peter’s dismay, he couldn’t find one of those premade mixes for the cookies. He really didn’t want to make them from scratch, but it looked like he didn’t have a choice. 

Together, the two followed the instructions. And by together, it was really just Peter getting everything prepared and then telling Emma when to throw something into the bowl he was mixing.

Once it was all ready to bake, Peter slid the cookie tray into the oven and had JARVIS set a timer.

“Now the icing!” Emma cried.

Peter looked at the girl skeptically. “I don’t think chocolate chip cookies call for icing.”

Emma crossed her arms with a huff. “You can put icing on anything.”

“Well, I don’t think we have any.”

“Then we can make it.”

“That’s a lot of work.”

“PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE….”

“Alright, alright. Let’s make the icing.”

“YAY!”

Peter had JARVIS pull up an icing recipe. They gathered the ingredients and began to make it. Once everything was combined and stirred, Peter looked at the mixture warily.

“This doesn’t look right,” he said.

“It’s chunky,” Emma said from her stool.

She was right. This was nothing like the smooth icing in the picture. It was all clumpy. And when Peter tasted it, it was crunchy. It felt like he was eating mushed together sand. Delicious, sweet sand, but still sand.

“JARVIS, what’s wrong with it?”

“Did you use confectioners or granulated sugar?” the AI questioned.

Peter scrunched his face in confusion. “There’s more than one kind of sugar?”

“I believe we have found the source of your problem,” JARVIS stated.

“Oh, ha ha. Whatever.”

Peter turned to see Emma sticking her hand in her mouth. She pulled it out, stuck her hand in the chunky icing, and did it again. “What?” she asked through her stuffed mouth. “It’s still good.”

“It’s literally straight up sugar clumped together,” Peter said.

Emma paused for a moment before screaming “SUGAR!” and taking another huge bite. Peter smiled, shrugged, and followed her lead.

By the time the cookies were finished, the two were so full – and had such upset stomachs from the abundance of sugar – that they couldn’t even eat them. It was worth it though.

They settled back onto the couch to continue their marathon of Sophia the First.

After goodness knows how many episodes, the elevator doors opened. Peter turned to see Pepper walking through the door. She was digging through a bag, so she hadn’t looked up yet.

“I’m finally done for the day. At least I hope so. Wow. It smells really good up here, Pete. What did you….”

She looked up. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw the state of the kitchen. “What did you do?” she turned to see him on the couch. Seeing he wasn’t alone, Pepper took a step back in surprise.

Emma had sat up now. She was looking over Pepper, trying to figure out who she was. She clearly recognized her face. This wasn’t surprising. Pepper was pretty well-known. Still, Emma had no idea why this lady was here and why she looked so shocked.

Peter decided to make introductions. “Emma, this is my mom, Pepper Stark. Mom. This is Emma, Ned’s sister. I’m babysitting.”

Pepper blinked at him for a few moments, trying to process everything. She finally managed an, “Okay” followed by a “What did you do to the kitchen?”

Peter glanced over. He hadn’t noticed before, but they had sort of made a mess. There were dishes and trays piled everywhere. Bits of ingredients that had missed their proper destination littered counters, walls, floors, and somehow even the ceiling. It was definitely far from the spotless counters that usually greeting anyone who entered.

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry. I’ll clean it up after I take her home.”

“What time do you take her home?”

“6:30.”

“Peter. It’s 6:30 now.”

Peter checked his phone. Sure enough, it had just turned 6:30.

“Shoot. Okay. Well, I’ll be back. Come on, Emma. We gotta go.”

Peter picked up Emma, who was half asleep. He decided it wouldn’t hurt just to swing her this time. It would take too long on the bus. He asked JARVIS to open the window (to Pepper’s horror). Just before he left, he also asked the AI to record the rest of the show. He wanted to see how it ended. For a little princess show, he had actually gotten pretty invested in it after watching so much.

With that, he was off, leaving a very confused Pepper to clean up his mess.


	7. Chapter 7: Cartwheels and Conversations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it wise to keep your six-year-old overnight with a teenage superhero who's only babysat once? Probably not. But the Leeds trust Peter, and Emma is obsessed with him, so we roll with it. Lol.
> 
> Anyway. This chapter leads way to the next two. Lots of fun and cuteness coming up in the next one.
> 
> Hope you like it!

“I cannot believe you have officially become my baby sister’s babysitter.”

Peter chuckled at his best friend’s comment as he placed his bag on the floor. 

Both Mister and Misses Leeds were going on a business meeting out of town. Ned’s was going with them because he wanted to look at some cool robotics building down the road from their meeting building. Emma would have been bored out of her mind at either of those locations, and that would have caused problems. Therefore, Emma was going to stay at home, and someone had to stay with her. Inevitably, she insisted that someone be Peter.

“Yeah, it is pretty crazy. But it’s fun though. I’m glad I can do it.”

Ned shook his head. “You’re crazy.”

Peter shrugged. “What’s new?”

“What are you two going to do anyway? Play tea party all day? You can’t avoid it since you’re here this time. Why are you here exactly?”

Peter huffed as he remembered his reasoning. “Last time, the press went crazy after seeing me dragging a little girl around. I don’t want her to become a target, so I figured it would be better to just stay here.”

“That sucks. Is the press not backing off yet? You’d think they would have by now.”

Peter sighed, running his fingers through his hair. “Not really. Which is annoying, cause it’s starting to really get in the way of my life and my patrols. I’m starting to think I’ll be followed forever. I mean, all the Avengers are still in the spotlight all the time. I have a feeling I won’t be much different.”

Ned nodded in agreement. “That’s fair.” He paused, a smile creeping onto his face. “If you ever need anyone to make a big distraction while you run, let me know. I would love to go viral.”

Peter laughed at the thought. He had no doubt his friend could make a crazy, massive commotion if he set his mind to it. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Misses Leeds walked into the room, hands full of bags. “You ready to go, Ned?”

Ned nodded. “Yeah, just let me get my stuff. I’ll put it in the car.” He rushed back to his room, leaving Peter and Misses Leeds alone.

“Okay. Let me think,” the woman spoke as she double checked her bag. “There should be plenty in the fridge for the both of you. Don’t give her too much sugar like you did last time. That was a nightmare. Her bedtime is at 7:30, if you can manage to get her settled by then. It’s always a struggle. And that’s all I can think of at the moment that you don’t already know. If you need anything else, make sure to call.”

“Absolutely, Misses Leeds. I’ll do my best, and I’ll make sure she’s safe.”

The mother looked up from her bag, a sweet smile on her face. “I don’t doubt that.” Then, her gaze hardened. “But not too safe. No Spiderman business.”

Peter nodded in affirmation. “Yes, ma’am.” Technically, he wasn’t lying. What he had in mind wasn’t Spiderman, per say….

Ned walked back into the room after putting his stuff outside. “Dad’s ready to go, Mom.”

“Alright.” She shifted her bags one last time. “Thank you again, Peter. Have fun.” With that, she quickly slipped around the corner to tell Emma goodbye. 

Ned gave his friend one last look. “I still can’t believe she gets to spend more time with you than I do.”

Holding up his hands in defense, Peter replied, “Hey. It’s not my fault you have a crazy schedule. Besides, we talk during every patrol. And we text throughout the day.”

“Not. The. Same. Anyway, bye.”

Peter waved as his friend and Misses Leeds walked out the door. “Bye. Have a good trip.”

He closed and locked the door behind them. Always wanted to be safe. 

He turned around, but Emma still hadn’t come out yet. That was surprising. He assumed she must still be in her room.

Just as he started towards her room, she zoomed past him, nearly knocking him off his feet. He watched as she threw herself at the side of the couch, trying to push it. Her face morphed into one of exertion, but her effort was futile. He had to admit, her determination was pretty impressive none the less.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Trying. To make room. For you. To. Teach. Me. A cartwheel.” She managed between shoves.

Peter raised an eyebrow. “What’s a cartwheel, and why am I teaching it to you?”

Emma slid to the floor and rolled over so she was facing him. Her face was one of annoyance. “Everyone knows what a cartwheel is,” she stated.

Peter shrugged. “Not me.”

“Here. I’ll show you.” Emma bounced up and stepped away from the couch. “You put your hands down like this.” She bent over and placed her hands on the ground. “And then you throw your legs over one at a time.” Still bending over, she did this weird hoppy thing with her legs, one at a time. It didn’t look impressive at all, but Peter had no idea what it was supposed to look like. Maybe that was the goal.

Peter raised an eyebrow in confusion. “If you know how to do it, then why do I have to teach you?”

Emma flailed her arms to the side and rolled her head until it touched her shoulder. “Well, that’s not how you actually do it.”

“Then how am I supposed to know how to do it?”

“You can look it up on Mommy’s computer, and then you can teach me.”

“Or I can just teach you something else,” Peter suggested. “Something that seems a little less complicated.”

Emma huffed and crossed her arms. Peter had to admit, it was pretty cute. She was really bad at being intimidating. 

“No. It has to be a cartwheel.”

Peter crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes in curiosity. “And why is that?”

“Because Lilly can do one, and I can’t.”

“Ohhhh. That’s that girl who does gymnastics that I’m helping you beat, right?”

Emma nodded her head vigorously. “Yes. And I saw her the other day, and I said I could roll better than her because you taught me, and then we rolled, I rolled so much better than her. But then she started to do a cartwheel, but I couldn’t do it. So now you have to teach me.”

Peter chuckled at the thought. He wished he could have seen Emma literally rolling around, trying to impress that other girl. That would have been a sight to behold.

“Alright, alright,” he said. “I guess I can teach you a cartwheel.”

Emma squealed in excitement, practically bouncing off the walls. “Yay! Now all the other girls will want to be my friend just like they do with Lilly!”

Peter felt like he had been hit by a falling building – yes, he remembered the feeling. He had always assumed she was just competitive. He could relate to that, so he fed into her dream. But it seemed that dream wasn’t actually about surpassing other’s abilities.

It was about winning friends. She wanted to show them she was capable of something cool, and then they would think she herself was cool and befriend her. But he knew firsthand that wasn’t how it worked. No matter how many impressive things you did, it would never be enough if they were just with you for your abilities or position.

He squatted down so he was at her level. “Emma,” he said as gently as he could.

She seemed to realize the tone had shifted because she stopped hopping and turned to him. She didn’t say anything, but he could tell he had her attention.

“You know, you should never have to earn someone’s friendship.”

Emma looked at her feet and began to pick at the floor with her toes. “I know. Mommy says that all the time. But I just want them to know I can do cool things.”

“I understand. But you don’t have to. The best thing you can do is just be yourself. Then, your true friends will come naturally. Just like how I did with your brother.”

“But I’m not like you,” Emma mumbled quietly. “You are cool, and you do cool things all the time. Everyone wants to be their friend. I hear it all over.”

“Are you talking about the people on the news?”

Emma nodded.

Peter smiled at the little girl softly. “Emma, that’s something entirely different. I know it might be a little hard to understand, but the guy everyone talks about on the news and the me in front of you right now aren’t quite the same person. I have to be a whole lot braver and stronger doing that. I have to act differently to set an example. On my own, I’m not that impressive. Those people who want to get to know me would be disappointed with the real me. That’s why you should always be yourself. That way, you never have to worry about having to act differently in front of different people at different times.”

Emma poked at the ground once again. “I just want people to hang out with me,” she mumbled.

“Well, what do you think I’m doing right now?”

“That’s different,” Emma whined.

“I don’t think it is. I like you just for you. I wouldn’t be here if that wasn’t the case.”

Emma finally lifted her head. Eyes full of hope stared at him so hard it pierced his soul. “You really mean that?”

“Wouldn’t say it if I didn’t.”

Emma darted forward, wrapping her arms around Peter. “I’m glad you’re my bestest friend,” she said, her voice muffled since her face was buried in his chest.

Returning the embrace, Peter rested his head on top of hers. “Me too.”

Once they let go, there was a nice moment of silence as everything settled. Well, it was nice for Peter. He could tell Emma was about to explode. 

He clapped his hands together. “Alright. Let’s see if we can figure out how to do this cartwheel.”

Emma once again started bouncing around, beaming with delight. Peter couldn’t help but smile along.


	8. Chapter 8: Movies and Bed Time Bribery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just some cute little at home moments. Peter acting like a big brother. Emma being her usual cute self.
> 
> Every time I watch a little kid, I always end up singing with them. I just had to add the little bit with Emma singing, even if Peter doesn't really reciprocate the action.
> 
> Enjoy!

“I still don’t see the point of this,” Peter confessed.

“It’s fun,” Emma replied as she landed heavily from a cartwheel. 

After watching a few YouTube videos, Peter had grasped a fair understanding of the action. It only took him a few minutes to master it himself, and then he started instructing Emma. She was a fast learner. At least, he thought so. He still didn’t have a good basis for that kind of thing.

Currently, she was trying to master the move. She was looking a lot better than she had in the beginning, but it still wasn’t as graceful as it should be. To be fair, he knew he didn’t have the best body coordination at that age. He remembered because it had caused huge problems for him during his young training. So really, she was doing very well.

“But when are you ever going to use this skill in your life?” Peter questioned further. “It would be so much easier just to do a backflip or a handspring or something like that.”

Emma momentarily stopped, turning to give him a side eye. “But that’s too hard. I’m not big enough for that yet.”

“Well, when you’re big enough, I’ll be here to teach you.”

Emma collapsed on the couch beside him. “Really? You’ll do that all the way in the future when I’m old?” She looked up at him with that look of wonder again.

Peter chuckled. “Really,” he answered, calming her worries. 

He knew those worries well. Being in continual fear of being abandoned for someone else who came along that was better. Never fun. He would never let that happen to her though. He would fight anyone who dared hurt her feelings like that.

Wow, he really needed to take it back a few notches. He was sounding exactly like his dad. Was this what it felt like being a parent? Nah. It was more like having a little sister. He was just a protective brother.

Emma started poking his leg incessantly.

“Can I help you?” Peter asked.

“I’m hungry!” Emma declared.

“Well, we should fix that.”

Emma nodded in agreement. “I want a turkey sandwich. No crust.”

“That sounds really good. Why don’t you go make me one too,” Peter said, a smile sneaking onto his lips.

Emma rolled her head to the side, sending him a stink eye. “I can’t make it by myself. Mommy doesn’t let me cut anything. She says knifes are dangerous.”

Peter snorted. He vividly remembered the first time he held a knife. He was younger than Emma, and his Camolian mother had thrust the blade until his hand. She had told him it would make him stronger. It would give him power. It would force the respect he needed to succeed in life. And it had. He had run out of the house, and all the Camolian children had been impressed and respected him for the first time in his life… until he tripped on a rock and accidentally stabbed himself through the leg.

“Yeah, it’s probably a good thing you don’t deal with knifes yet.”

He stood up and walked to the kitchen, Emma hot on his heels. He rummaged through the fridge and found the turkey, cheese, and condiments. Throwing them on the counter, he turned to see Emma handing him the bread. He took it and began to make them both their sandwiches. Then, he put everything back, cut the crust off Emma’s sandwich, and placed their supper on some plates.

“You want anything else with it?” he asked. Even though he had made himself three sandwiches, he knew he would still be hungry.

Emma puckered her lips in thought. She grinned up at him mischievously. “Cookies?”

Peter laughed. “Your mom said no more sugar.”

Emma huffed but didn’t fight it. Upon Peter’s suggestion, she ran to the living room and began to search for a movie for them to watch before bed.

Peter found a bag of potato chips and put a few handfuls on his plate. He debated for a moment as to whether or not he should give Emma some since she hadn’t said if she needed more or not. He decided to do so anyway since he knew he would eat them if she didn’t.

Peter picked up their plates and headed towards the living room. He put both of their plates down on a side table. He decided to go ahead and move the couch back since they wouldn’t be doing more cartwheels for a while.

With little effort, he lifted the couch off the ground (he didn’t want to scratch the floor). Emma, who was sitting on the couch, shrieked at the exhilarating action. 

Once everything was in place, Peter plopped himself into the seat beside her. Grabbing the plates off the table, he put hers beside her and began to eat off his own. 

Emma hit the play button on the movie. She had picked one called Tangled. She stared to nibble on her food.

Peter was interested in seeing the movie. It was animated. He liked that. And he’d seen a lot of Disney movies with Pepper. Although, they typically avoided the princess ones. For his sake, not for Pepper’s. He had a feeling he wouldn’t mind them though.

A few minutes in, the first song came on. In took Peter by surprise. He honestly hadn’t been expecting a musical. Not a bad surprise since he enjoyed watching them. Well, as long as the singing was good. He just always forgot they existed.

Peter heard humming beside him. He turned to see Emma bopping around in her seat to the tune. When the words began, she started to sing along with the movie. It was the cutest thing Peter had ever seen. She was so into it that it was contagious. Deep down, he wished he knew the words so he could sing with her. It looked like she was having so much fun. Maybe next time.

As the movie drew on, Emma seemed to get tired. Just like she had back at the tower, she curled up against Peter.

He liked that feeling. It showed she was comfortable with him and trusted him. It made him feel needed. And for once, it wasn’t just because he was a superhero. It was for being himself. He needed more of that in his life. He should really take his own advice.

Peter was hoping Emma was tired enough for them to go straight to bed after the movie ended. She already seemed pretty out of it, and he had to admit, extra sleep sounded nice. He hadn’t gotten that in ages. He could use a good recharge.

Unfortunately, it was not as easy as planned.

When the movie ended, Peter clicked off the tv. He carefully shifted so he could carry Emma to bed. That seemed like the right thing to do since she was half asleep. No point in waking her up to tell her to go to bed.

What actually happened was Emma woke up from the movement. Apparently, it didn’t take much.

She leapt off the bed and started hopping around. “What do we do now? Maybe we can play dolls this time. But let me do a cartwheel first.” She positioned herself to start the action.

“Oh no you don’t.” Peter picked her up in his arms to stop her from moving around any more.

Emma sent him a pouty face and squirmed in his arms. “Why not? I want to play.”

“Because that will get your heartrate up even more, which means you’ll never go to bed.”

“I don’t. Need. To go. To bed,” Emma said between her futile struggles. Peter was impressed by her confidence. Grown men would just stop fighting when he showed up, but this little girl thought she could beat him and break free. “I’m not. Tired.”

Peter started walking towards the girl’s room. “Doesn’t matter. This is the time your mom said you should go to bed, so this is when you’re going to bed.”

Emma went limp in his arms as she stopped struggling. Peter couldn’t tell if she was giving up or if this was a new tactic to slip out of his grasp. “My normal babysitter doesn’t do this.”

“Is your normal babysitter a superhero who teaches you gymnastics?”

“No,” she huffed.

“Well, there you go. I win.”

“But I want to have more fun with you,” Emma mumbled as Peter placed her on her bed.

“I’ll be here all morning.”

Emma opened her mouth to protest, but Peter stopped her.

“Tell you what. I have something for you that I haven’t had the chance to show you yet. If you go to bed now, I’ll show it to you first thing in the morning. If not, you have to wait until next time I come.” 

There. Bribery. The ultimate winning token.

Emma’s eyes widened. Peter smiled to himself. He knew he had won.

Emma darted out of bed straight towards her dresser. She rummaged around and found some pajamas. Peter turned around as she changed, waiting until he heard her plop onto her bed. Then, he walked over and pulled the covers over her. He had no idea how exactly you put a six-year-old girl to bed, but he knew Pepper always messed with his covers if she came in when he was getting ready to sleep. It couldn’t hurt to try this.

It seemed to be the right move because Emma immediately seemed content. Peter smiled to himself. She was so cute, and he was proud of himself for doing a good job.

He bid her goodnight, turned off her light, and walked out the door. He headed straight for the couch. He wanted to work on some designs for a new gadget, but he hadn’t had time yet. This seemed the perfect opportunity. Plus, he knew he could keep an eye on everything from the middle of the house.

After a few minutes, he heard tiny footsteps. Looking up, he saw Emma timidly staring at him.

“What are you doing up? You should be going to sleep. Remember?”

Emma shuffled awkwardly as she looked up at him with big, pleading eyes. “It’s too quiet. It’s scary. Can you stay with me?”

Peter blinked at her a few times, trying to process the invitation. He supposed it made sense. He never liked sleeping in the quiet when he was younger. He either slept right next to his Camolian mother or surrounded by the other kids at the base. For crying out loud, he hadn’t even been able to sleep on his own as a fifteen-year-old when he first got to the tower. Why had he expected her to be able to?

Peter smiled at her warmly. If he could make her feel safe, by all means he would do so. He turned off his tablet and laid it on the couch. So much for that idea. “Sure thing.” 

He walked over to Emma. She grabbed his hand when he got near, and they walked together to the room.

The bed was really too small for Peter, but he didn’t care. He had slept in more uncomfortable positions than this. He ended up with his back and head upright against the wall. Emma immediately curled into his side. 

He stayed quiet and still as he heard her breath and feeling her pulse was very relaxing. Soon enough, she had drifted to sleep. Peter sat there a while longer, enjoying the moment, before inevitably drifting off himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, you'll finally get to see Emma receive her suit. And big, non-fluff plot begins at the end. Can't wait for you guys to see it!
> 
> See you Monday!


	9. Chapter 9: Time to Don the Suit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peter's so precious. He just wants Emma to be happy. And he wants to have a fun time with her.
> 
> Now, the bigger plot gets introduced. I know you're probably like, "Why do you need a bigger plot? Just embrace the cute fluff." 
> 
> Well, I tried. And I can't do that, lol. I have to have conflict and a storyline and a rollercoaster ride for all my characters as they approach the story's climax. I could not rest until I created that. But once again, don't worry. There will still be plenty of fun moments between Peter and Emma and other characters.
> 
> I'll shut up now. Enjoy the chapter!

“Gotta get up! Gotta get up! Gotta get up!”

Peter awoke to his body being shaken violently. From the dull pain in his head and neck, he guessed the action had slammed his head into the wall. Slowly, he looked down to see Emma’s eyes gazing up at him through the darkness.

“What time is it?” he questioned hoarsely, more to himself than anyone in particular. There didn’t seem to be any light coming through the window in the room, so it couldn’t be too early.

“6:30,” Emma replied matter-of-factly.

Peter stared down at her in disbelief. “Why are you even up this early?”

Emma jumped off the bed and started hopping around. “I always get up this early and watch Mommy get ready for work.”

“Okay then.”

To be fair, he could remember doing the same thing a few times with Pepper after he started adjusting to life on earth. He had found it such a strange and interesting process. But he had also been used to getting up early from being on the base so much.

Emma leapt onto the bed, throwing herself onto Peter. “Can I see my surprise now?”

“Why not.” He knew there was no way she was going back to sleep, and he didn’t feel like fighting her insistent asking.

“Yay!” Emma started bouncing up and down. Unfortunately for Peter, she was still on top of him, making this a far from pleasant movement.

“Okay. Can you please….” Peter grunted as the little girl’s knee dug into his stomach. “…stop doing that?”

“Sorry.” Emma slid onto the floor like a seal sliding into the water. It was honestly quite the comedic sight. “I’m just really excited.”

“I can tell.” 

Peter slowly stood up from the bed. One by one, he stretched his tight muscles. He was usually pretty stiff in the mornings, especially if he’d patrolled the night prior. This morning, he knew it was from his strange sleeping position. It had been worth it though, falling asleep with Emma next to him like that. He smiled at the recollection.

“You’re like a grandpa.” Emma whined as she watched impatiently.

“Well then, maybe I should go slower,” Peter countered, still stretching. “You know, read the newspaper, make some eggs, drink my coffee while watching the news, go for a walk. Maybe we’ll get to your surprise in a few hours. Although, then it might be time for my morning nap.”

Emma sent him another stink eye. He was surprised it wasn’t her permanent face by now. She kept her mouth shut though.

Finally, Peter clapped his hands together. “Alright. Let’s go.”

Emma darted out of the room before he could say anything else. Peter casually strolled into the living room behind her.

For some reason, he was feeling very relaxed. Like, more so than normal. He liked being here with Emma. It made him feel at peace. It made him forget about all his problems with the rest of the world. It made him feel like being just Peter was okay. 

He knew he could just be himself back at the tower. His family loved him, and they accepted him for him. But he still sometimes felt like he was just the little kid that got in the way. The one they had to keep explaining things to and looking out for. The one they all kept looking out for like a kid.

And then he had all the pressure as Spiderman. It used to be so relaxing. Now, the swinging around and kicking butt part was still relaxing. But, he had so much pressure from everyone watching him. It was unnerving. He felt like if he made one tiny mistake, his whole reputation would be ruined.

And that didn’t even start to cover whenever he was at SHEILD headquarters. He had such a hard time there. The actual training wasn’t hard, but he didn’t know how to act with the agents. They were all so much older than him, and they had completely different training. He felt like he had to fake himself. If he didn’t, he’d never get viewed with respect. He’d learned as a kid that was necessary. If he didn’t get it, he’d never be useful, and he’d never get out on a mission.

But here with Emma, he wasn’t some kid. Here, he had no pressure to be some great role model. He didn’t have to be some genius, prodigy, hero. He could just relax and enjoy the moment, knowing everything was going to be fine.

He hadn’t realized how much he had needed this until right now.

When he got to the kitchen, Emma was jumping in circles. “Where is it? Where is it?”

Peter chuckled. “Close your eyes.”

Emma slapped her hands over her eyes. As Peter walked across the room, he could see her tiny fingers shifting ever so slightly. “No peaking,” he said. Emma’s fingers immediately tightened. Peter shook his head, smiling at her childishness.

He reached his duffle bag and unzipped it. After rummaging for a few moments, he found what he was looking for and pulled it out.

It was a child-sized, pink “super”-suit. Just like he had promised her.

It hadn’t taken long to design. It was very simple compared to most of the suits he worked on for himself and the Avengers. There were no fancy gadgets. There were no weapons. There wasn’t even anything electrical or technology related in the whole piece. It was just a suit composed of the same stretchy, comfortable, durable material his original suit was made from. It was basically a gymnastic suit, but made by him.

Naturally, the color scheme was pink and white. Those seemed to be the only colors the girl knew, so why would he use anything else? The pattern consisted of the same web design as his. On the back, her spider had a little crown – might as well make it cute. She acted like a princess. Why not make her a spider princess?

The main differences in appearance were the lack of mask and the skirt. It still had pants, but there was a short skirt on top of them. It had little frills on the bottom which resembled those on the princess dress she wore to the tower that first day.

Peter turned around to face the awaiting girl, who was rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. He held up the suit. “Alright. You can look now.”

Emma’s hands flew down from her face. The second her eyes locked onto the suit, they sparkled as if a whole galaxy lay inside them. A toothy beam spread across her face and transferred onto Peter’s.

“For me?” she asked.

“Yeah, for you.”

Emma ran forward and grabbed it. “It’s soooo pretty!” She looked up at Peter. “How do I get it on?”

“Here. There’s a zipper.” He grabbed the suit and unzipped the back so she could step in.

Sure, a zipper wasn’t the most sophisticated way he could do this, but it was for a six-year-old. He didn’t see anything more advanced – like what he had – working well for her.

Emma started to strip off her pajama top and bottoms. Peter turned his head to the wall. He held out the suit, and she took it. He waited until she asked for his help zipping to turn back to her, and then he granted her request for assistance. 

“There. All done.”

Emma sprinted to her room to look at herself in her mirror. Peter waited in the living room. He heard her yell “It looks so pretty!” before running back to him. She leapt up, throwing herself on top of him once more. “I love it!”

“I’m glad.” Peter pointed a finger at her face and grew sterner. “Now. I have something very important to say, and I need you to listen very carefully. Got it?”

Emma’s face grew serious. Well, serious for her. She nodded fervently.

“You said you wanted a suit to play in. That’s what this is. It’s not real. That means you can’t go out and do anything in it, okay? It’s just a suit. You can run around the house and only around the house. You can do gymnastics in it, but nothing more. Got it?”

Emma nodded again. “I’ll take care of it. It’ll be my suit, like the ones the really good gymnastics girls on the TV have. The ones with all the sparkles and everything.”

“Yeah. Exactly. You wanna take lots of care with it so it stays nice. And it’s only for play.”

Emma gave a thumbs up. “Only play.” Emma scrunched her face for a moment. She looked up at Peter. “Can we play now?”

Peter laughed. “Yeah, we can play now.”

“Do you have your suit to play in?”

“Of course.”

Peter slipped into his suit and cleared the floor once again. Emma rolled around for a little bit, then did some cartwheels. Peter did a few beside her when she asked, but he mainly just watched.

It was fun seeing how happy she was. It made him happy too, to know he had done that. Plus, he liked seeing how the suit worked on her. He couldn’t exactly see how everything moved when he was wearing his own. It was good to know for future designs. 

Maybe he should make a suit for Ned too. And MJ. He smiled at that. He bet MJ would look great in it. She would probably say no though.

When Emma asked to be taught a new move, he decided on a back bend with a kick over. He remembered learning how to do that pretty early on. It was simply, but it paved the way for more complex movements like flips.

In the middle of his teaching, he heard his phone ringing. He walked over to see who it was. He figured it was probably Misses Leeds checking up on him and Emma. Or maybe even Tony or Pepper. None of those would surprise him.

What did surprise him was when he saw the name Nick Fury pop up on his screen.

He picked up.

“Hello?”

“Where are you?” Fury yelled from the other end of the line, causing the boy to cringe. The man sounded very urgent. Although, Peter couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t. Guess he was just even more urgent than usual.

“I’m at a friend’s house. Babysitting his sister. Why?”

“Turn on the TV.”

Peter walked over to the table, grabbed the remote, and turned it on. It was a baking show. He was pretty sure the director of SHIELD wasn’t this panicked over a cake. He flipped it to a news channel.

What he saw made his jaw drop. There was a giant monster that looked like it was made of fire rampaging through Detroit. It was setting everything in its path ablaze. Based on the surroundings, it had been there for a while, and it showed no signs of leaving any time soon. He could make out a lot of fireman on the ground shooting water at it, but it appeared to have little to no affect.

"What is that thing?" Peter asked, barely above a whisper.

Fury didn't answer the question. Probably because he didn't quite know the answer. “Stark and Thor are almost there. We’re trying to get people who can stay above the ground so they can’t be stepped on. That means you’re next.”

Peter heard what sounded like a helicopter nearing the house. 

“Get ready for your first official SHEILD mission.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My favorite line in this chapter is "He was pretty sure the director of SHIELD wasn't this panicked over a cake." I don't know why, but I laughed so hard at that.
> 
> Anyway. Hope you're excited for my Elemental plot.
> 
> See you soon!


	10. Chapter 10: Put Out the Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Peter isn't the most responsible babysitter. Sorta just leaves Emma with a stranger. But you know, she really couldn't be in much safer hands than with SHEILD. And he has a lot of other things on his mind at the moment. And thankfully, the Leeds are pretty understanding... a little more than they probably should be, but oh well. It's their character flaw, lol.
> 
> I'm so excited for you guys to see some action! Please let me know what you think! I hope you like it!
> 
> Enjoy!

Peter turned to look at a terrified Emma, her eyes darting between the TV screen and him.

“Hey. Hey. Look at me.” Peter turned off the tv and took a few steps towards her and squatted to her level. “I know this might be super scary, but it’ll be okay. It’s not going to come get you.”

Emma looked at him, eyes brimmed with tears. “But it's so big. And scary. What if everyone is too little to stop it?”

“It’ll be stopped. The Avengers and I are going to make sure of that. Okay?”

Emma’s eyes widened. “You’re going to it?” She threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “You can’t go. I can’t be by myself.”

There was no mistaking the sound of a jet – not a helicopter – landing on the street outside the house. Well. So much for not letting the press know Spiderman was connected with the Leeds.

“Emma, there are some people who just got here to pick me up. I’m going to make sure one of them stays with you and keeps you very safe.” Peter pulled himself out of her grasp. 

He couldn’t believe all this was happening so quickly. He had just wanted a relaxing day. Why couldn’t he have gotten his one relaxing day? Although, he supposed SHIELD had handpicked him. He guessed that was progress on that account.

Emma grabbed his hand as he walked towards the door. “I don’t want you to go,” she said. “You’re my bestest friend.”

Peter sighed. “Look. I don’t want to leave you either. But I’m going to be as safe as I can. What you saw on the TV. That’s me and my family’s job to take down.” 

There was a loud knock on the door that seemed to freak Emma out even more. 

Peter thought for a second. What would have helped him stop being scared at a time like this? Sometimes, if he pretended he was brave, he would become less scared. He recalled how his Camolian mother had always told him to put on a brave face, no matter what. Although, her reasoning of not appearing weak wasmso he wouldn’t get beat up. That wouldn’t help Emma much. But, she might put on a brave face for another reason. 

“Can you do something for me Emma?”

Emma nodded.

“I need you to be super brave for me. Okay? You know how when you get scared you can go to your Mommy. And you feel her being not scared, and then you’re not as scared? Well, I need you to be brave so that when I’m out there I’ll feel it. Then I won’t be as scared either. You think you can do that for me?”

Even though she was clearly still scared, Emma puffed out her chest and lifted her head high. She had a look of pure determination on her face. Peter smiled. It had worked.

He opened the door and found a middle-aged, female SHEILD agent standing outside. He pointed at her. “I need you to stay here with the little girl inside.”

The woman blinked at him in surprise, but she quickly recovered and said, “Yes, sir.” She stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

Peter smiled to himself as he walked to the jet door. She had called him sir. And she had followed an order he gave. No one had done that to him since he was a captain back on Camolia. He was slightly proud of himself. He quickly got over that pride when he stepped into the jet and was immediately ordered to sit down and strap himself in.

The flight was fast and intense. Peter had a lot of facts thrown at him. He barely understood some of the things that were said, but he grasped the overall message. It seemed this giant had just risen out of the ground. It wasn’t the first of its kind either. There had been three just like it located across the world throughout the past month. The others hadn’t done much damage and had been put out by local staff. This was by far the biggest, and it seemed to have lost control.

The plan was for Thor to summon a thunderstorm, Ironman to become and human fire-hydrant, and Peter to swing around with a giant fire hose. Together, they would shrink the giant and push it back into the Lake Saint Claire.

Sounded simple enough…. Wonder how it would inevitably fall apart?

As they drew nearer, Peter felt his anxiety growing. It wasn’t like he hadn’t faced strange and dangerous opponents before. But this was the first time he was doing it alongside SHEILD and the Avengers in the public eye. What if he messed it all up? What if a bunch of people got hurt, and he caused everyone else’s names to be tarnished? What would happen if he made a fool of himself and everyone was watching? Would people hate him? Would he no longer be viewed as a hero?

“If you bounce that leg any harder, it might fall off.”

Peter looked up at a man – probably in his forties – who was eyeing him. He hadn’t even realized he’d been bouncing his leg, but apparently his anxiety had subconsciously manifested itself and taken control of him.

“I’m sure it’ll all get worked out,” the man said in reassurance. “I’ve seen some footage of you fighting. You fit in just fine with them, and they can take on anything. Decides. You’ve handled plenty of unnatural things at this point.”

Peter chuckled. “Yeah. I suppose you’re right. Thanks.”

The man extended his hand to the boy. “Raymond Smith, by the way.”

Peter grasped the hand and shook it firmly. “Peter Stark. Or Parker. Or Spiderman.”

“Or Minshun. Yeah. We all read the file.”

“Oh. Yeah.”

The two looked up as the pilot spoke over the com link. Apparently, they were nearing Detroit. 

They prepared to jump out of the plane. Peter wasn’t exactly sure why they couldn’t just land. He was sure he missed that in between all the facts thrown at him. He'd sorta zoned out near the end cause his brain was frying between info overload and anxiety. But he wasn’t complaining about the descent. The air was his element. And he did love some occasional dramatic flair.

Peter was suddenly glad he attended all those SHIELD training sessions Fury had forced him into. At the time, they had seemed pointless. He had been doing fine fighting before now. But this was different. Seeing how he still didn’t know how to interact with the agents after all this training, he couldn’t imagine leaping into this without it. It was just so far from everything he knew. He was used to stepping up and ultimately handling everything on his own. Letting someone who wasn't being forced to work with him help was strange.

He watched as everyone else put on their parachute packs.

“Aren’t you gonna get your pack on?” Raymond asked.

Peter shook his head. “Don’t need it. I have wings in my suit. I’ll just glide on my own.”

Raymond shook his head in amusement. “I don’t get it. How are you so calm at the idea of freefalling out of the sky towards a burning city?”

Peter shrugged. “You learn not to be fazed by falling after a while. Besides, I’ve always enjoyed flying through the air.”

“Well, glad that’s your job and not mine. I prefer to deal with things on the earth, not in the sky.”

The two other agents stood with them and waited for the jet hanger to open. When Peter heard it unlatch and saw what lay ahead, he felt his breath catch. 

That was a lot of fire. And smoke. This was not going to be as easy as it was on paper. 

He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm his heartrate as he got into position. Sliding on his mask, he made sure everything on his suit was working well. Then, they were being told to jump, and Peter rushed into the open air.

As he fell, he took in the situation further. First, he looked for the large fire truck with the hose he was supposed to grab. Once he found it, it calculated where he would have to swing to get there most efficiently. 

With that figured out, he looked at everything else. He could see his father and Thor hard at work. His father’s human-fire-extinguisher method had apparently failed as he was now flying around with a hose, just like Peter was supposed to do. Thor was trying to summon rain, but he was mainly just shooting lighting everywhere… which made more fire. Not his best move, but at least he was trying something.

Peter neared his hose and started to steer. Dodging some stray fireballs, he glided down to it and landed. Grabbing the giant water hose, he shot a web and began to swing towards the fire monster. He got fairly close and landed on a building. Sticking himself to the wall, he aimed the hose. Through the vibrations, he could feel it had turned on and water was about to shoot out.

Suddenly, there was an icon popping up in his mask. It was a call. He had been trying to block everything but the task at hand out of his mind, but this was impossible to ignore since it covered a large portion of his field of vision. He quickly swiped at it, intending to cancel the call.

But, he accidently accepted it instead. 

Ned’s face popped up in the corner of the screen, and his voice screamed in Peter’s ear. “Are you at the Detroit battle? I got a notification on my phone and started watching the fight on the news, and then I saw people falling from this plane, and either one of them is you or you’ve been replaced.”

The temporary distraction was enough to make Peter loosen his hold. When the water came rushing through the spout, he was thrown off the building. He temporarily panicked but quickly shot a web and pulled himself back to the building, dodging more fire in the process.

“Ned, I swear my life just flashed before my eyes. This is not a good time. If you can see me, you obviously know I'm here.”

“Yeah, sorry, I get it. But real quick. Where’s my sister?”

“Back at your house, Ned.” 

Peter leapt off the building as the monster’s fist smashed into it. They were supposed to be pushing it back, but that didn’t seem to be happening. Peter stuck himself to the next building over. This time, he aimed the stream at the fire monster’s feet and not its head. Maybe that would make it step back.

“By herself?”

Peter watched the giant take a single step back. Wow that had actually worked. “Yes!” Peter exclaimed. 

“What?!”

“Wait. No. Sorry. Emma’s not alone. She’s with some SHEILD lady. That ‘yes’ was for the fight I’m in.”

“Ohhh. That makes sense. I saw that on my phone. Good job getting it to step back.”

“Thanks, man.” Peter leapt to the next building. Ironman flew right by him, giving him a thumbs up. Peter felt proud of that. His dad seemed to pick up on the foot thing as he aimed his own hose at the right foot. Peter aimed his at the left one.

“Okay. I’ll let you go now,” Ned said. “I just wanted to make sure my sister was okay. I know I act like I don’t care about her, but I was about to have a serious problem if she was by herself. Or even worse you brought her with you.”

The monster seemed to be getting a little smaller now. And was that the lake in the distance? Not too much longer to go. Peter hoped the hoses were long enough to go all the way there.

“Yeah, yeah. I get it. Once I’m done with this and with all the SHIELD stuff I’m sure will follow, I’ll stop by and talk to you and her.”

“Sounds great. Can’t wait to hear everything. Bye. Try not to die without me.” 

Just as Ned’s caller icon disappeared from the screen, the flame monster stumbled into Lake Saint Claire, flailing wildly as it went. Peter swung out of the way of several fire beams. As he landed, he turned to see the last of the fire disappear into the water.

Sighing, he plopped himself onto the warm ground and waited to see what he was supposed to do next.


	11. Chapter 11: Welcome to the Spotlight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is Peter a little dramatic in his entrance of the Leeds' house? Absolutely. But this is Peter. He's gotta make everything as complicated for himself as possible.
> 
> And a few more cute Emma scenes. Gotta love those.
> 
> Enjoy!

Peter looked from a distance down the Leeds’ street. There were multiple cars with press and paparazzi scattered along the road, waiting for the family to emerge or someone to go near it. 

Well, this was going to be great.

He pulled out his phone and dialed Ned’s number. He held the device to his ear and waited for his friend to pick up.

“Hey, Peter,” Ned answered. “You get finished with all the SHIELD stuff?”

“Yeah, yeah. I finished the report a little while ago. I’m actually at the end of your road right now. Do you know your house is being watched?”

“Oh that. Yeah. We know. It was really bad when we first got here. My dad yelled from the front lawn for like an hour, but they just got in their cars and didn’t leave.”

Peter sighed. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want you to get dragged into all this.”

“It’s fine. Remember. I said I would get them to stare at me for you. Now it’ll just be easier for me to do that. Besides, Emma is having fun finding pictures of our house on the internet.”

“How’s she holding up? Also, are your parents mad at me for leaving her? I want to know what I’m getting myself into before I step inside.”

“Well, my dad is mad about everything, so you might have to be careful with him. Don’t take it personally though. He had a bad business meeting and then all of this happened, so it’s not really your fault. My mom is just trying to act like everything is normal, but I have a feeling she’s going to snap soon, and it will be terrifying. And Emma is just sorta confused. My mom told her it was okay for her to be that way, and then she started talking about having to brave so she can send it out of her to the heroes or something. I’m not entirely sure. Also, why is she wearing a suit? And can I get one?”

“Of course, man. I was actually thinking about that earlier. You and MJ should definitely get some.”

Ned sighed on the other end of the phone. “Peter. There is no way that your girlfriend is going to wear a spider-themed suit…. Unless it’s Black Widow’s.”

“First off, she’s not my girlfriend yet….”

“Key word yet. You should really get on that. All you have to do is ask….”

“Be quiet, Ned. Second, it’s worth a shot at the very least.”

“True.”

Peter peaked at his friend’s house once again. “Okay. Do you think they will all come out if you open your door and I come in?”

“Oh, definitely,” Ned replied. “My mom started getting hot, so she opened a window. We had like five people come onto our lawn again. Opening the door will be so much worse. Especially if a superhero comes in.”

Peter shook himself, preparing his body as if for battle. Honestly, he would rather be running into a battle. He really hated the press, and he hated that he’d brought this much attention on the Leeds. But there wasn’t much he could do about it now. And he had to get inside. 

“Here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to unlock your door and when I get to the lawn, open it. Then close it as soon as I’m inside.”

“That seems a little dramatic. I don’t care if they take pictures of me. And they already know you were here earlier, so you coming in won’t be that big of a surprise.”

“Well, I care, okay. Besides, they don’t just want pictures. They’ll want to interview you and ask you a bunch of stupid, outlandish mumbo-jumbo. Then, you’ll never get out. Trust me. You don’t want all that. I’d know. Just role with it.”

“Okay fine. I’ll do it for your sake. I still think the attention is sorta fun though.” There was a shuffling on the other end of the phone followed by a pause. “Okay. Ready when you are.”

“Okay. Be there in a second.” Peter hung up the phone and shoved it into his pocket. He bent over, preparing for a full-on sprint.

Then, he was pushing off. He flew down the street as fast as his feet would go. He could see doors opening as people scrambled to see who he was and what he was doing. Thanks to his supernatural speed, he was on the lawn before anyone could do much about it. He rushed through the barely opened door and stumbled to a halt inside.

He turned around to speak to his friend. Instead of seeing the locked door he was expecting, he saw a beaming Ned waving to all the reporters running towards them.

“Ned!” Peter hissed.

“Alright!” He slammed the door and spun around. “You happy now?”

“No!” Peter said in exasperation. “Fighting a giant that belongs in The Last Airbender and then being chased into my best friend’s house does not make me happy!”

“Peter,” Misses Leeds walked into the room. “I’m glad you’re okay. I saw what was happening on the news, and then that SHEILD lady told us more. I was worried about you for a while there.”

“Yeah. It’s been a crazy day.”

Was this even the same day? It couldn’t possibly be. And yet, it was. He had woken up before sunrise, optimistic and relaxed. And now, as sundown approached, he was collapsing on the floor as he mentally and physically tanked.

“Could you feel me being brave?”

Peter looked up to find Emma standing timidly in the doorway. He smiled at her warmly. “Yes. I did. You did a great job.”

Emma crept a little closer. She paused for a moment as she thought. “I don’t want you to bring that lady back to babysit me anymore. She was scarry.”

Peter raised his eyebrows. “Oh really?”

“Yeah. She was way too serious. I didn’t like it. She treated me like a baby too. I’m not a baby. I’m six. Next time you bring one of your friends, make sure they will be my friend too and not be a scary old lady.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll hopefully never have to see any of them again.”

Emma looked concerned. “Why not? Do your friends not like me?”

“No, no, no. It’s not that. I’m sure they’d all love you. They just only come around when there are scary things happening, and I don’t want you to have to deal with scary things.”

Emma crossed her arms and pouted her lips. “Well, they don’t sound like nice friends then. You should get new ones. Ones that aren’t scary and you have fun with.”

Peter laughed. Leave it to Emma to solve all his life’s problems in the simplest way possible. Just ditch SHEILD…. Like that would ever happen, even if he wanted to.

Emma had gradually worked her way forward until she was right in front of Peter. She was now looking straight in his eyes, clearly contemplating something but not sure how to take action yet. 

Peter just smiled down at her, waiting for her to do something. He knew he could probably force something out of her, but he didn’t want to do that. He didn’t want to risk her feeling any more scared over anything. He would let her process whatever it was on her own until she was ready to speak. He would just be gentle with her, like he had wished people had been with him when he was younger.

Finally, she threw herself into his arms. He collected her into his embrace, leaning his head against her little head.

“I’m glad you’re back. It was really hard being brave for so long.”

Peter felt his heart break. He knew that feeling much too well. 

A part of him regretted telling her she had to be brave. He had been told that all the time growing up, and it just made him more afraid. He was afraid of being afraid. It was an endless cycle of fear that the mind of a child couldn’t comprehend. And he had placed that on her. But what made it worse was the fact that he was never praised when he was brave. It was always pushed aside as something else he had failed at was brought into the spotlight. He wasn’t going to let that happen to Emma.

“Well, you did such a good job. You were so brave. And even if you weren’t, that would have been okay too. Because being afraid means you’re… human. Everybody gets scared. Sometimes, things are just scary.”

The two stayed like that for a moment. Then, Emma pulled back. She picked at the ground with her feet for a little while. 

She looked up at Peter, a smile forming on her lips. “You wanna see all the pictures I found of our house?”

Peter laughed. “Sure.”

Emma darted off to her room to grab what Peter figured was some device of her mother’s she was borrowing.

“How are you a better brother than me?” Ned asked flatly. “It’s not cool, man. You’re making me look bad.”

“Oh, sush. You do that to yourself, sweetheart.” Misses Leeds turned to Peter, gazing at him fondly. “Thank you. That’s so sweet of you to speak to her like that. She really does look up to you like a big brother. Although, you’re practically my adopted son at this point anyway.”

“Of course. I’ll take you as my third mom.”

“Really quickly, though,” Misses Leeds began, her voice much quieter this time. Peter leaned in to hear her. “If you ever leave my daughter – or worse drag her or her brother into your life-threatening fiascos – I will disown you from my adopted family. My kids come first. You hear me?”

Peter gulped as he pulled away. Nodding fervently, he replied. “Yes, ma’am. Of course. Absolutely. Them first. All the time. No problem.”

Emma ran back up to Peter, grabbed his hand, and pulled him to the couch where they looked at paparazzi pictures of their house. Now, there were some of Peter running into the house and then of Ned waving at them tauntingly. Thankfully, he had already changed out of his suit, so you could barely see who he was. He had to admit, the whole thing looked pretty stupid. This would all be funny when they could look back at it. But right now, everything was just a pain in his rear end.

And then there was Emma. She was just happy everyone she cared about was there and safe. And sitting there with her, Peter realized that’s all that really counted.

Peter felt his phone vibrating. For a second, his heart dropped. He was scared he was about to get pulled away again. But then he saw it was just Pepper, so he answered. 

She was just checking in, seeing how he was holding up after the fight. He told her about being surrounded by the press. Pepper offered to have someone come pick him up, but he told her it would just cause even more of a commotion. Pepper said she understood and that he could stay out as long as he needed. She would keep everyone at the tower at bay. Although, the longer he waited, the more of a talk he would have with Tony.

The Leed’s offered Peter some supper, which he graciously accepted. He hadn’t eaten anything since the fight, and he was starving. After that, they said he could stay the night and sneak out whenever he wanted. Once again, he graciously accepted. He was exhausted. And he had no idea when things would die down with the press. Honestly, you had to admire their determination. Even if it was on the levels of insanity.

He found himself laying on the couch, by himself. Ned had offered to stay out with him, but Peter insisted his friend go to his bed. He didn’t know how early he would be sneaking out. He would just have to take whatever opportunity he got.

Around 2:00 in the morning, Peter was awake and debating on trying to sneak out. Then, he heard a door creaking followed by those tiny footsteps.

A few moments later, a sleepy Emma was toddling towards him. Before he could do anything, she was hopping onto the couch and curling up into him. Peter barely caught her mumbling, “You keep the monsters away.”

Peter laid his head back on the pillow. Looked like he was spending the whole night now. But he was completely okay with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm excited for the next chapter! You get more Ned, MJ, and Pepper at the tower. Plus, it's adding building on the danger plot. So good!
> 
> Can't wait for you guys to read it on Thursday!


	12. Chapter 12: Tower Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So Peter's friends finally get to go to the tower. He definitely kept them waiting too long. Especially Ned. Poor, fanboy Ned.
> 
> I definitely think MJ is a hardcore feminist and would admire Pepper. I had to throw that in here. I think it's a sweet moment, especially since Peter gets to watch it.
> 
> And, we get some setup for more Elemental action. Can't wait!
> 
> Enjoy!

“It’s about time we finally got to go to your place,” Ned said as he and MJ hopped out of the car. They looked up at the tower in wonder.

Peter often forgot just how impressive his home was. He saw it all the time. After all, he did live there. And he swung around it all the time. But, he could remember how strange it had been when he first got here. It had seemed so tall and peculiar. Now, he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

“I can’t believe I’m finally getting to meet your family,” Ned said. “I mean, I’ve been waiting forever. So not cool to keep me waiting this long, by the way. Why did you keep me waiting this long exactly?”

Peter shrugged. “It was just easier for me to go to your house then to get you here. Besides. You know how busy all of us are.”

Ned pointed at his friend. “That is true.” He started walking towards the entrance, his friends following suite. “I’m glad they’re all free now though. Slightly surprised with all those supernatural monster things around the world, but hey. I’ll take it.”

They entered the tower. Ned and MJ started looking around in wonder. Ned nearly bumped into some important-looking people. Thankfully, Peter stopped him and corralled his friends into the elevator.

“You never told us what those things are,” MJ directed to Peter as they walked. “I don’t believe anything I’ve seen on the news. They never know what they’re talking about.”

“I think they’re called Elementals,” Peter replied. “I’ve heard them called so many things by different people, especially my dad, that I’m not sure if that’s the official name or not. Anyway. Apparently, there have been a bunch of small fire ones for a while. They weren’t really destructive when they started out. In fact, they seemed to be in places that fires were needed. But now, they’re getting bigger and out of control. And ones made of wind and water are popping up worldwide. They’re super small right now, but they’re already harder to manage than the fire ones. SHIELD is going crazy, and we know it’s only going to get worse.”

The elevator doors opened to the Stark floor. Peter stepped out, MJ close behind. She looked around for a few moments, shrugged, and turned to Peter completely unphased. Typical MJ.

Ned, however, looked like his eyeballs were about to pop out of his head. “Oh. My. Gosh,” he said as he reverently tip-toed out of the elevator. “This is where Tony Stark lives. This is amazing. I don’t feel worthy to touch anything.”

MJ smirked. She confidently walked over to an expensive-looking vase, made direct eye contact with Ned, and proceeded to poke it with one finger. This earned a gasp from Ned and a chuckle from Peter.

MJ turned to Peter. “Why are we up here by ourselves? I thought we were supposed to be with your family.”

“They aren’t here yet,” Peter stated as he flopped onto the couch. “They’re all going to be back before supper though. They said you could come with me ahead of time and just hang out.”

MJ raised an eyebrow. “They trusted a bunch of teenagers to be here by themselves?”

“Well, technically, they only know about me and Ned….”

MJ crossed her arms as she sat down on the other end of the couch. “What? You don’t think they’d let me come?”

Peter’s eyes widened, fearing he might have insulted her. He waved his hand in defense. “No, no, no. That’s not it. It’s just…. Well…. They sort of would have picked on me all day if they knew I was bringing a girl…. I thought it would be better to not give them time to think about it.” By them, he meant mainly Natasha.

Ned had finally tiptoed his way to the chair and sat down. “What all can we do here while we wait?” he asked, completely changing to topic. Suddenly, he thought of something and began to bounce up and down in the chair. That excited movement must run in the family. 

“Can we look at the super cool designs and everything? Like all the cool tech? Oh! Did you start on my own thing yet? You said you were making a head thing, right?”

“Oh yeah! JARVIS, pull up the designs.” Peter stood and walked to the holographic projection being immitted from the table. “This is basically a mixture of the Ironman helmet and my mask. It’s has the shape and stability of the helmet, but it works like my mask. Mainly cause I’m the one who made both. It has a whole lot of communicative systems and so forth. Plus, I gave you an AI that JARVIS helped me create. I named her Karen. She’s in my suit now too.”

Ned’s jaw was on the floor. He was ecstatic. He rushed over to the projection and began inspecting it. The two boys began to babble tech stuff, working on the design together.

MJ rolled her eyes. “Nerds.” Reaching into the bag she had brought, she pulled out a book. She proceeded to curl up on the couch and immerse herself into her own world, blocking out the two boys.

After a while, the elevator doors opened. All three teens turned to see who it was.

Pepper walked into the room. She looked very stressed, but she quickly donned a smile when she saw her son and his friends. 

“Hey. So sorry. I completely forgot you had brought your friends over, sweetheart. You guys having fun?”

“Oh, yes,” Ned answered. “Your tower is amazing absolutely amazing. And all the tech you have. Woah. And everything is so fancy too.”

Pepper chuckled. “Yeah. Tony has always been one for the big and elaborate. You must be Ned.” She turned to MJ, who had turned around on the couch to face the woman. “And you must be MJ. I’ve heard a lot about you.” She turned to Peter with a slight smirk. “Peter here is you’re biggest fan.”

“I’m not surprised,” MJ said. She paused. “You know, I’m actually a huge fan of you.”

“Since when have you fanned over anyone,” Ned questioned skeptically. “You literally don’t care about anything like that.”

“Yeah. Cause you always talk about the Avengers. She’s not an Avenger.” MJ turned to Pepper. “I really admire how you’re the CEO of such a big company. And how you keep up with and help manage all the crazy stuff that goes on around here. You’re a great figure for girls to look up to.”

Pepper touched her hand to her heart as she smiled down at the girl. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much that means to me.”

Peter smiled as he watched the two of them talk. He knew his mom sometimes felt overshadowed by everyone else in the tower. She didn’t really say it, but he could always see when it was affecting her. He knew just how big of an impact MJ’s words had had on her. Plus, it seemed to temporarily distract her from whatever had her so stressed. Usually, he and Tony did that through watching a movie or playing a family game or something of that nature. 

Thinking of Tony….

“Hey, Mom?”

Pepper turned to Peter, raising her eyebrows in question.

“When’s Dad and everyone else getting here. I’m hungry, and I’m really excited for everybody to meet.”

Immediately, the look of stress washed over her face again. It was followed by a hint of sadness. “Baby, I’m afraid that won’t be able to happen. They had to go overseas with SHIELD.”

Peter felt his heart drop. A stifling tension settled over the room. Peter gulped. “Is there another attack from one of those element monsters?”

Pepper nodded sullenly. “This one’s in Germany somewhere. It’s made of wind. Nobody knows how to stop wind. They haven’t been able to calm it for a few days now, and it just keeps causing more and more damage. So, they’re calling everyone in.”

Peter didn’t like the thought of all of his family running into that situation. Sure, it was their job. But he still didn’t like it. He had seen some clips of a water one in Japan, and that had been a nightmare. He couldn’t remember how they had stopped it, but it could not have been easy. And wind seemed like it would be even harder. I mean, how do you stop a tornado?

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Ned started slowly, turning to his friend as he spoke. “But why weren’t you called in?”

Peter bowed his head and shrugged. “SHEILD doesn’t really have much to do with me. I’ve really only worked with them twice at this point. One of which was on accident, and they weren’t even really there. It was really just me and the Avengers on the Scripa ship. SHIELD only uses me as a last resort.”

Peter hated it. He understood why they did it. He would probably do the same thing in their shoes. Even if he was a trained soldier and superhero, he was still a kid in comparison. But that didn’t change the fact that he hated feeling useless and unwanted. He wanted to be out there helping his family. And now that he was no longer a nobody, neighborhood Spiderman, he really wanted to go out with them. Not all the time, but at least sometimes. He had learned how to step up and take his place as a member of the team. As a leader and a hero. He had to keep doing that. He couldn’t stand to not be stepping up again. I couldn’t stand being shoved to the background.

Pepper seemed to sense Peter’s inner struggle with this. She walked over to him and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. “Why don’t we all get some food? You said you were hungry, right?”

Peter nodded. “Do you want me to go down and get some takeout?” He knew there was no way they were cooking. And sure, they could order in, but he sort of wanted to do something useful.

Pepper smiled at him. “That sounds great. How about some Ty? That sound good. Do you guys like Ty?” She looked to Ned and MJ for confirmation. They both nodded. They seemed to be awkward, not quite knowing what to do since both their hosts were clearly having a hard time.

“I’ll be back then.” Peter headed into the elevator to pick up the food.

As soon as the doors closed behind him, he leaned against the wall. Slowly, he slid to the ground. 

He hated this. He tried to pretend the constant sitting around didn’t get to him, but it did. He wanted to be doing something. Sure, he had been freaked out when he was fighting the fire giant, but he thought he had done pretty well. So why wasn’t anyone letting him help? Why didn’t they want him to go fight again?

He ran his hands through his hair. This whole thing made him feel weak. He hated feeling weak. He’d always hated feeling weak. He just wanted to do the right thing when no one else could. Was that so much to ask for?

Soon, the doors opened, and he stepped onto the main floor. Since so many people worked here, there were giant food courts on multiple levels of the tower. This one had the best Ty food though. He headed straight for the restaurant.

When he got there, everyone seemed to be preparing to close. The workers seemed really surprised when they saw him. To be fair, the Starks usually sent Happy or one of Tony’s robots down to get food for them. They themselves were stopped and disturbed whenever they came down here. Thankfully, it wasn’t too busy right now.

Peter ordered quite a bit of food. He felt sort of bad since they seemed like they had been preparing to not make any more. At least he was only ordering for four people though and not the whole Avengers. That would have been at least triple the amount of food.

Once everything was prepared – and he had had an awkward exchange with an overly excited girl who handed him his food – he headed back up to the Stark floor.

The group ate as they watched a movie. Peter didn’t even know what they were watching as he was too zoned out. At least the food was good. And he did enjoy being surrounded by the people he loved.

After it was over, Pepper offered for Ned and MJ to spend the night. She said it was because she didn’t want them to leave so late, but Peter knew that was only part of the reason. It was more the fact that she didn’t want Peter to be alone. Their company would distract him – and probably her too – from the loneliness in the house and the heart-clenching anxiety stemming from its cause.

They both seemed eager to stay. MJ called her parents, and they quickly agreed. 

Ned’s parents agreed too, but then Emma heard about it. She immediately insisted on talking to Peter. Begrudgingly, Ned put her on speakerphone so his friend could hear her.

“HEY, PETER! GUESS WHAT!”

The second he heard her voice, Peter felt a weight lift off his chest. There was just something about her that made it all better. She made him forget all his problems as she seemed to have none herself. It was so sweet and pure. He smiled.

“What, Emma?”

“I SAW LILLY TODAY! I SHOWED HER MY CARTWHEEL! MINE WAS SO MUCH BETTER THAN HERS!”

Peter laughed. Oh, what it would be like to have your biggest trouble be beating another kid in gymnastics. “Great job, Emma. I knew you could do it.”

The two talked for a few minutes before Emma was sent to bed. Even though the conversation was brief, Peter had to admit he felt somewhat better after it.

Pretty soon, Pepper went to bed and encouraged the teens to do so as well. The trio decided to sleep in the living room. That would be less awkward than them all trying to sleep in Peter’s bed.

They all settled into their own stop and bid each other goodnight. Ned drifted to sleep pretty quickly. Peter could not follow. 

He was wide awake. His mind was running a million miles a second. What were the Avengers doing now? Were they okay? Was everything already handled? Or were they in way over their head? Was it a good thing he wasn’t being called in since that meant they didn’t need backup? Or did they just think he was useless?

“Stop it,” MJ hissed in the dark.

Startled, Peter jolted. He had been so out of it that he hadn’t noticed she was still awake. “Stop what?” he whispered back.

“Your anxious breathing. It’s making me stressed.”

“Oh. Sorry.” He hadn’t even realized his breathing was any different, but he clearly wasn’t paying attention to much. He tried to force himself to change it. This was a hard task since he didn’t know how he had been breathing before. Now, he was anxiously breathing over his anxious breathing.

“Oh, for crying out loud.” 

Peter could hear MJ shuffling as she got off her chair and walked toward him. He stiffened as he suddenly felt her grabbing his arms. “What are you doing?” he questioned. He tried to ignore the horrendous voice crack he made.

MJ positioned his arms under his head. “I read somewhere that this is a good position for sleeping with anxiety.” She then grabbed Peter’s legs, which made his heart skip a beat. She jarringly straightened them from the tight, curled position they had been in. “I have no idea if this works, but I’ll try anything at this point if it means you’ll chill. I have enough trouble sleeping on my own without someone radiating in stress onto me.”

Then, to Peter’s surprise, she curled up on the other end of the long couch. Peter could practically feel her body heat creeping towards him by his feet. It was simultaneously relaxing and unsettling.

She cleared her throat. “Just for clarification, this is just so I can kick you if you start stressing again. Don’t let your guy brain jump to any conclusions. It doesn’t mean anything grand.”

“Yeah, yeah. Definitely.”

Soon enough, both of them were drifting off together.


	13. Chapter 13: Messing With Dirt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a little shorter, but it's also an action chapter. I think it evens out.
> 
> It might seem like nobody knows what's happening, their plan isn't that great, and their actions and words might seem to contradict themselves. That's on purpose. No one has any idea what they're doing at this point. They make a plan. It falls apart. They just respond from there.
> 
> Also.... I am sorry for this ending. But, if you're familiar with my work, you really shouldn't be surprised at this point....

Boom.

Peter jumped off the couch, immediately going into defense after feeling the tower shake. He looked around for the source of the noise, but he couldn’t find anything. He did see his friends stirring though.

“JARVIS? What was that?”

“A helicopter has landed on the landing pad. A man is requesting that he come to you. Would you like me to send him down?”

Peter rubbed his eyes. “Uh, yeah. Yeah. Send him down.”

He wondered who it could be.

After a few moments, the elevator doors opened. It was still pretty dark in the room, but Peter’s enhanced sight allowed him to make out a man decked in an all-black, military-style outfit.

“Raymond? Hi. What are you doing here?” Peter was happy he actually remembered this agent’s name.

“Fury sent us to get you.”

“Us?”

“Your team.”

“I have a team?”

“Of course you have a team. Who did you think you were working on your last mission?”

Temporarily forgetting about the fact that he was being fetched by SHEILD, Peter smiled to himself. He had a team. His own team. Maybe SHEILD hadn’t deemed him useless after all. He lifted his chin in pride. This was the same feeling he had when he was assigned the captain of his team back on the Alliance base. Except this was even better.

Raymond chuckled at Peter’s evident feeling of accomplishment. “Yeah. Great job, kid. Fury doesn’t just give anyone a team. You really impressed him with the way you handled the Scripas and the fire Elemental.”

“Well.” Peter put his hands on his hips. In his head, he thought it would make him look more professional. It really just made him look like an idiot. “I’m just glad I could help.”

Raymond shook his head in amusement. “You can feel full of yourself later. We need you now.”

“Is he being sent to Germany?”

The two turned to see Pepper leaning out of her bedroom doorframe. She clearly hadn’t slept well. She was probably stressing over her husband being in a fight. And now that someone had come to take her son, she had even more reason to look stressed.

“No. They seem to be handling it pretty well. They’ve made a plan, and they will hopefully have won by the end of the day.”

Peter furrowed his brow in confusion. He was glad they were on the path to victory, but why would they need him? Was it something completely unrelated?

“There’s another one, isn’t there?” MJ asked from the couch. Of course she had pieced it all together before anyone else.

Raymond nodded. “The first dirt one has appeared. It’s currently in Colorado and is working its way into a city. Fury wants it to be taken care of before it can get out of hand like the one in Germany. That’s why we need you. It’ll take too long for everyone to get back. You’re the closest Avenger, so you’re going to lead.”

Peter nodded in understanding. That made sense. It seemed the longer these things were left to run their course, the harder it was to bring them down. “I’ll go get my suit.” He headed into his room.

He grabbed his suit in his room and changed as quickly as he could. He wanted to get out there and do something. Sure, it was going to be dangerous, but he was slightly relieved it had come up. Even if he wasn’t with everyone else, at least he felt like he was doing something to help them. He was helping them by stepping up for them.

He rushed back into the living room. Raymond was standing in the frame of the elevator.

Peter walked over to Pepper and kissed her on the cheek. “Bye, Mom.”

She wrapped her arms around him. “Be safe,” she whispered in his ear.

“I will.”

He walked towards the open elevator. As he passed the chair and couch, Peter quickly gave Ned a fist bump and a slight wave to MJ. He wanted to do more than that, but he wasn’t exactly sure what he was supposed to do.

Then, he was riding up towards the landing pad. They rode is silence for the short trip. Soon, Peter stepping out into the cool morning air. It was a really nice morning. He would have stood and admired the sunrise if he hadn’t been in a hurry.

The two agents stepped into the helicopter. “So. What’s the plan?” Peter asked as he secured himself in a seat beside Raymond.

“We are to go in and observe the earth Elemental’s behavior,” the woman (Peter thought he remembered her name being Alice, but he wasn’t entirely sure) replied. “Each of them acts in the same basic form, but with their own variations. Just like different animals in of a species. They all seem to start in a place whatever element they are made of might seem needed. For instance, the first water one arose in a desert. But, as they move from that space, their behavior shifts. For instance, the fire ones become confrontational, but the air one seems to only hurt people on accident.”

“So basically, we’re just seeing its personality, how it acts, how it grows, that sort of thing?”

“Exactly,” Raymond confirmed. “We will talk to headquarters as we observe, and together we will find the best course of action.”

“Makes sense.”

They fell into a tension filled silence. No one really know what to expect. Would it be fairly easy, or would they be way in over their head right off the bat? The fact that they knew none of the other Avengers would be coming any time soon added a lot of pressure.

Peter bounced his leg anxiously as he thought about his family. He really wished he was with them. Or they were with him. He knew he could work on his own, especially since he had a team of SHIELD agents with him. He knew he could handle things on his own when the need arose. But that didn’t change the fact that he wanted to work with his family. To know he was supporting them and that they were supporting him.

To Peter’s relief, Raymond picked up on his stress. The man started talking to him. None of it was very deep. Peter could tell he was purposefully avoiding topics around fighting or SHIELD or the Avengers. Peter was grateful for this.

Soon enough, they were landing the helicopter on an emptied street. They were all suited up already, so they hopped out without delay.

It took a grand total of a millisecond for Peter to find the Elemental. It was huge. Nowhere near as large as the fire one, but it was still massive. It was stomping along the road. Based on its current trajectory, Peter would guess that is had come from the edge of the city and was working its way inward.

Peter signaled to his team that he was moving closer. He ran towards the closest building and scaled it. Then, he started to leap between structures, gradually growing closer to the giant.

It didn’t seem to have an interest in people. Although, no one was really confronting it yet. That might change things.

“It seems to be pretty passive,” Peter spoke into his com. He continued to observe it. “It seems pretty heavy. It stomps a lot harder than the fire one. And from what I’ve seen of the wind one, it moves a whole lot less gracefully. It’s pretty slow. That should work to our advantage.”

“Can you tell where it seems to be headed?” someone from SHIELD command asked.

Peter shook his head. He realized they couldn’t hear that. “No. Not yet anyway.”

“Okay, Parker,” Nick Fury’s voice sounded in his ear. That was surprising. “First thing we want to try is water. We’re hoping it’ll turn it to goop. Can’t do much harm that way.”

“Got it.”

Peter turned back to where they had landed. Fire trucks were already gathering with their giant hoses. He swung down, grabbed one, and ran closer to it. Raymond was already positioning himself on the right side of the street, so Peter did the same on the left. 

He looked at the older agent, waiting for a command. Raymond just stood there staring at him. Why wasn’t he doing any…. 

Oh yeah. He was the leader. Peter gave a hand signal, and they both let the water shoot from their hoses.

They watched as it beautifully arched through the air, hitting the Elemental on the back. The giant stiffened on the impact, seeming shocked by the sudden attack. It began to bend over. That was good. It seemed to be collapsing in on itself. This had gone a whole lot easier than he would have thought….

Suddenly, the giant roared. It stood taller than before. It slowly turned around, grabbing at its back. It yanked a bit of muddied flesh off itself and hurled it directly at the spider hero.

Peter chucked the hose and leapt onto a building to avoid the impact. “I don’t think that worked,” he yelled into his intercom.

“We noticed,” Fury replied. “Did you see anything useful?”

“There was clearly dampening of its outmost layer,” Raymond said. “Maybe we could get something into that.”

“Yeah, yeah. And it could sink in and take the thing out from the inside,” Peter concluded. That would be a good idea. He would just have to get close enough. And someone would have to keep watering it.

“Parker, there should be a container of explosives in the helicopter. Go get it. Then, you can swing above and drop them onto it.”

“Got it.” Peter sprinted to the helicopter and scavenged until he found a container filled with C4. He set the detonator for thirty seconds, placed it on the C4, and activated it.

Grasping the container in one hand, he shot a web and started swinging for the Elemental. Raymond and now Alice were still dousing it with the hoses. Thankfully, it had stopped throwing its mud at them for the moment. Peter worked his way over to it until he was right above. He got in as close as he possibly could so the C4 wouldn’t separate too much when he dumped it. When there was only a few seconds left on the detonator, he poured the explosives onto the giant and yanked himself up.

He heard the explosion behind him. Turning around, he saw bits of the Elemental scattered around the area. He watched the pieces for a moment, honestly expecting them to come back together. But they didn’t. 

Peter smiled to himself. They had done it. He turned to his teammates to congratulate them on their hard work.

His heart dropped as he saw Alice running towards where Raymond had been standing. But he wasn’t standing there anymore. 

Instead, there was a giant slab of earth where the man had once stood.


	14. Chapter 14: Blame Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand here we are.... Poor Peter.... Sorry.... But it was needed as a catalyst for him. I also think it's really important to show the reality of him being a hero on earth. And not just a little, neighborhood hero anymore. He has bigger threats with bigger consequences, and I address that throughout the story.
> 
> Don't worry though. The next two chapters are a lot lighter in the mood than this one.
> 
> I hope you like it!

Peter sprinted towards the area. Before he even got there, the smell of blood reached his nostrils. Curse his hyper-sensitive nose. He knew he was in trouble, but part of him was still holding onto hope. 

He grabbed the rock. He grunted as he tried to lift it. It was a lot heavier than he anticipated. That wasn’t a good thing. Peter’s hope was lessening by the second. Calling upon his Spiderman strength, he managed to lift the slab and throw it to the side.

Peter felt his body go numb as he saw his crushed teammate. He watched in what felt like a third-person view as Alice threw herself onto the ground beside him. She was clearly in shock as she was trying to wake the man up. There was no way he would be waking up.

Peter couldn’t believe it. How had he let this happen? He should have been paying more attention to what was going on behind him. It was his job to protect people. It was his job to make sure everyone else was okay. He had to get everyone else out of harm’s way, and then he could take on the task at hand. That’s how it had been before, so why had he acted this way now? 

Maybe he wasn’t equipped to work with SHIELD after all.

He was a failure. If it had been the rest of the Avengers, surely they wouldn’t have let an agent die like that. They would have been better. He was just incompetent. 

Maybe it had been for the better that SHIELD wasn’t using him before now. He clearly wasn’t cut out to work in the field like that anymore. So what if he had been great with aliens? He was obviously unequipped to handle anything else. 

He had grown weak. He was only good as the neighborhood hero or the baby of the group. He clearly wasn’t supposed to lead. For crying out loud, the only reason he had gotten a leader position in the Alliance was because he had been marked for death. Why would SHIELD make the mistake of giving him a role like this?

He felt a hand guiding him towards the helicopter. He allowed himself to be moved by his feet, but he wasn’t really in control of it. He was too mad at himself and at everything that had just happened. 

Most of all, he felt shame for thinking he could have been a good hero in the first place. He was a killer. That was the only way he knew how to fight. He had been taught to go for the kill from a young age. It was still his instinct. That’s what he’d resorted to the first time he saw a Scripa, and that’s what he did with the Elementals. Of course someone was going to die if he was in charge. He brought death to the people around him.

Somehow, Peter ended up at the SHIELD headquarters. He found himself changing into civilian clothes and heading to a meeting to discuss the event. 

He didn’t really hear anything that was said. All he could process was how sad the other members of his team looked. They were hiding it pretty well, like they were trained to do. Like he had been trained to do. But it still showed. 

And Peter knew he should have prevented it.

When that meeting adjourned, Fury asked him to write up a report. Peter sat down to do so at an empty desk. He tried to recall everything useful he might have seen. He knew they would probably need it again. And when the next one came, he wanted to make sure no one else got killed. He would make it better. He had to. He couldn’t stand to screw up like that again. He had to step up his game and save everyone.

It took about an hour for him to be satisfied with his report. He rose from the desk and walked towards Fury’s office to turn it in. 

Reaching the door, he heard Fury on the phone. Based on the director’s tone, it sounded like a very serious conversation. Then, he heard Fury say the name Smith. Fury was talking to Raymond’s family. 

Another wave of guilt came over Peter. He laid the report on a table by the door and rushed out the building.

He sprinted down the stairwell and out the door. He probably shouldn’t be running all the way from headquarters to the tower. He already had enough trouble with the press and paparazzi as it was. And now that he had been fighting the Elementals, it was sure to get even more hectic.

He didn’t care though. He just wanted to run. He wanted to run back in time so he could fix everything. Scratch that. He wanted to run back in time to before all this hero stuff in general. He didn’t want to deal with it anymore. He felt like he didn’t deserve it. He had known since the Camolians came to earth that he wasn’t a good person. That he only brought pain. So why did he think he could change that? Sure, he saved people. But he also caused problems. 

Maybe he should just stop. 

No. That was a stupid thought. He was just worked up on emotions. He needed to calm down. He needed to cope, and then he could work even harder from now on. It would be fine. He wouldn’t let himself get in this position again.

So, he ran. And he ran. He let his body go free as he wove in and out of the streets and sidewalks. 

He knew people recognized him. He could hear and see it as he passed. But he didn’t care. He could deal with that later. He just wanted to get some of his feelings out.

He didn’t stop until he was in the Stark Tower elevator. He collapsed onto the wall, panting heavily. Without a word, JARVIS activated the elevator, and he began his ascent to his floor.

When he stepped out of the elevator, he saw Pepper sitting on the couch, staring at the TV. He slowly walked over to see what she was watching. 

It was a news channel. They were covering the Elemental fight. But this wasn’t the one he had just been in. No. This was the one in Germany. It was still going on. Apparently, whatever tactic SHEILD had contrived hadn’t worked. There was a short blurb about Thor, Bruce, and Clint heading to China to fight a water one, leaving Steve, Tony, and Natasha to handle the air one. That was sure to make it even harder for everyone.

Then, it shifted to a clip of Spiderman and SHIELD working against the earth Elemental. Peter had to admit, the reporters had gotten some pretty nice shots. It showed the giant exploding, and then it switched to an entirely different event.

Still watching the TV, Pepper reached behind her and stroked Peter’s arm. “Good job, Peter. You looked good out there. Glad you’re safe.”

Peter hung his head. “You only say that because it didn’t show what happened next.”

This caught Pepper’s attention. She asked JARVIS to turn off the TV, but not before Peter saw a snippit of himself running with ridiculous rumors as to why he was doing so. 

Pepper patted her hand on the couch beside her. “What happened?”

Peter shuffled around the couch and sat beside her. He refused to make eye contact. “You know Raymond? The guy who came to pick me up?”

“Yeah. He seemed very nice.”

Peter gulped. “He’s… he’s….” Peter could bring him to say the word, so he said “He didn’t make it out of the fight.” He felt his eyes beginning to water, but he took a deep breath to calm himself. This wasn’t the time. He was already weak enough as it was for letting it happen. He shouldn’t cry like a baby over it too. “The debris from the Elemental hit him.”

Pepper reached up and cupped the side of his face with her hand. “Baby, I’m so sorry. I know that must be really hard.”

“I shouldn’t have let it happen,” Peter confessed. He didn’t like how she was being so sympathetic. He’s not the one people should be sorry for. “I should have tried harder somehow. I should have paid more attention. If I had dove in that direction instead, I’m sure I could have stopped it. Or if….”

“Peter. Look at me.”

Peter hesitated. He really didn’t want to. But when Pepper refused to continue until he complied, he lifted his eyes. 

Pepper gazed at him with such empathetic and loving eyes. “This is part of the job. Every single person on this team has been in this situation. I’ve had to console your father over things like this more times than I could count. Don’t beat yourself up about it. You can’t save everyone. Those agents go into the field knowing it could happen. Sure, you should try and protect them. But they are also willing to die to protect you and those around them. You just have to learn from it. Make sure it wasn’t in vain.”

Peter felt his eyes watering again. It was getting harder to suppress them. “But that doesn’t change anything,” he mumbled.

“No. It doesn’t. But you can’t change the past. You just have to move forward.”

The two fell into silence. Pepper turned the TV back on. She quickly switched off the news channel, knowing it wouldn’t help them anymore. They ended up watching some romantic movie. It was supposed to be sweet, but it just made Peter wonder if Raymond had a wife or kids who would now miss him.

When Peter couldn’t stand it anymore, he went to take a shower. Watching the grit from the fight wash down the drain was therapeutic. It felt symbolic. Plus, the warm water pelting against him felt relaxing.

Once he was finished and fully dressed, he went to his room. He tried to read, but he couldn’t focus on anything. He felt exhausted, but he knew there was no way he could fall asleep right now.

Suddenly, his phone rang. Without even looking, he hit accept and put it to his ear.

“Hey, man,” Ned’s voice sounded through the phone. “I saw what you did on the news. It looked really cool. You’re okay though, right?”

Peter paused. His first instinct was to say he was fine. After all, he was physically fine. And in comparison, he was a whole lot better than Raymond. But he knew he wasn’t really fine. And he knew Ned wouldn’t judge him for that.

“Not really. One of the guys on my team – the one who picked me up – he didn’t make it.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea. You wanna talk about it?”

Peter collapsed onto his bed. “I just feel like I should have done better, you know?” He felt like a broken record, but that’s what he kept feeling.

“That makes sense,” Ned replied. “But every hero has their bad days. You just gotta keep going.”

“Yeah. That’s what my mom said too.”

“Well, you should listen to us.”

Peter chuckled. “Yeah. I guess I should.”

The two talked for some time. Ned kept coming up with random topics to discuss. He was clearly struggling since Peter wasn’t helping him out much with his short replies. He appreciated his friend’s effort though. He was trying to make sure Peter wasn’t left to his thoughts for too long. Inevitably, he would have to be, but it was nice for that time to be delayed.

“Is that Peter?” a hissed whisper asked from the other side of the line.

“Oh my word, Emma. Why do you keep coming into my room? I told you to stop. And why are you even up anyway? Didn’t you go to bed like two hours ago.”

“I heard you talking,” Emma whispered. “Peter?” she asked a little bit louder.

“Hey, Emma,” the boy replied.

“I saw you on the TV. With that scary giant. It was really scary looking.”

“Yeah. Yeah, it was.”

“You and your friends are super brave though. I tried to be brave for you again. Like last time. Did you feel it?”

Peter couldn’t help but smile. “Ohhh so that’s why I felt so brave out there? That was you? Woah. It all makes sense now.”

Peter could practically hear Emma sticking her chin in the air. “I knew I was helping. Ned said it was stupid, but I knew it would help again. Just like you said.”

“I appreciate it. I need all the bravery I can get.” ‘Because I’m weak and can’t do anything right’ he thought to himself, but he didn’t say that out loud. 

Emma continued. “I want to be that brave when I grow up. Maybe when I’m big, I can go out there with you like them.”

Peter’s mind conjured an image of Emma being hit by the Elemental. He shuttered at the thought. He never wanted her out there. He wanted to protect her at all costs, never risking anything happening to her. He didn’t think he could handle that.

“No,” he said. “It’s super dangerous. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you. And you are way too little to even be thinking about that.”

“I’m not a baby,” Emma huffed. “I’m a big girl. And I’m gonna be even bigger soon. And I’m brave. And I am learning what you’re teaching me. I have my play suit too. I can do it.”

Peter started regretting teaching her gymnastics. And giving her that ‘play’ suit definitely was coming back to haunt him. He really should have known better. 

“I know you are very brave. And you can do anything you try really hard to do. But this is a job that’s just a little too big for you. I need you to trust me. I need you to stay out of it for me. Okay?” He knew it wasn’t going to be permanent, but he hoped it would buy him time until she was old enough to comprehend the actual danger.

There was a long pause. “Okay,” she finally said. She quickly added, “I do want to learn to flip like you though. It looks really fun.”

Peter breathed a sigh of relief. “I think I can do that. As long as you’re careful.”

“Yay! I will be!” She paused. “So, can we hang out soon? Or have another sleep over? What are you doing now?”

“Oh my gosh, Emma, he was my friend first,” Ned interjected. “Go away.”

“But I don’t want to. He’s my friend too.”

“If you don’t leave right now, I’m going to tell Mom you’re out of bed.”

Peter heard her stomp her foot. “Fine. Bye, Peter. I hope I see you soon.”

Peter found himself smiling again. How did she always make him feel better? “Bye, Emma.” He heard the little girl leave the room.

“Sooo,” Ned said. “Are you feeling a little better?”

“Yeah. I am. Thanks for asking.” He paused. “I think I’m gonna go to bed, actually. I’m pretty tired.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah. Of course. My bad. Well, goodnight.”

“Night, Ned.”

Peter turned off the phone. He asked JARVIS to turn off the lights, and he curled up in his bed. 

Just as he suspected, his mind was immediately wide awake. He tossed and turned for about an hour, desperately trying to relax enough to go to sleep. But he couldn’t. He tried to think of anything he could to get himself to sleep.

Gradually, he drifted into a restless sleep, littered with nightmares.


	15. Chapter 15: Make It Smooth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of if not my absolute favorite chapter. I love it so much. And the MJ/Peter fluff acts as medicine to my freshly-broken heart.
> 
> Also, Mister and Misses Leeds are finally learning. They still want Peter to be able to hang out with and watch Emma, but they don't trust them alone together. Way to go with the caution. It might be taking a while, but their boundaries are getting a little firmer.
> 
> Anyway. I hope you like it as much as I do (especially after the last chapter)!

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

“Sure,” MJ replied. “It’ll be entertaining, at the least.”

“I still feel bad for sort of throwing this on you, though. I just really needed to get out of the house cause it’s so lonely there. And Misses Leeds won’t let me go over there cause their house is still being watched. Plus, I don’t think she trusts me to be left with Emma by herself. They say they do, but they don’t really act like they do. And to be fair, I wouldn’t trust her with me either if I was a parent. But I promised Emma I would spend time with her, and I hate going back on promises, so Misses Leeds agreed that I could if someone else was watching her too. So, I asked you cause you’re like the only other person I spend time with, but….”

“I wouldn’t have accepted if I wasn’t fine with it. Emma sounds sweet. A little too girly for me, but whatever. And I could use something new to do anyway. I’m getting bored of being home alone.”

Peter smiled at the girl before him. He was so happy they were going to babysit together. Both of the girls in his life always made him feel better, and he really needed it right now. He was still beating himself up mentally over his Elemental fight. And the stress of his family being away for so long was only escalating with their increasing leave of absence. Pepper had surrounded herself with her work so she didn’t have to deal with it, but that was making him even more lonely.

But he didn’t have to worry about any of those things right now. He could just have fun in the park with MJ and Emma, even if they did all have to wear disguises and try to dodge the perpetually pestering press.

“Alright,” he said. “But you promise you’ll tell me if you get uncomfortable. Like if the press comes, or Emma is driving you insane. You can ditch at any moment.”

“I’m about to ditch you right now if you don’t shut up,” MJ stated bluntly.

They heard a car coming towards them. Turning, they both saw the Leeds’ van pull into the parking lot. The two teens headed in that direction. 

Misses Leeds helped Emma out of the car, saying a quick word to the girl. As soon as her mother was done, Emma darted towards Peter and threw herself at him. To avoid being thrown to the grown, Peter picked her up, swung her around, and positioned her on his hip. 

She squealed in delight at the movement. “That was fun. Do it again!”

“Maybe later,” Peter replied with a smile. He already felt himself relaxing. Man, he loved this little girl.

“I’m sorry I was a little late,” Misses Leeds said to the two teens. “I hope it didn’t cause any trouble.”

“Only Peter’s sanity,” MJ deadpanned. She eyed him out of the corner of her eye, smirking slightly when she saw his perturbed look.

“Okay then,” Misses Leeds replied. “Well, I should be back around supper time. I’ll meet you right here if that’s okay.”

“Sounds good,” MJ answered. “I have no idea what you’ll be doing cause Peter doesn’t tell me anything important like that, but I hope it goes well.” She gave an awkward smile to the woman, who was slightly thrown aback by her blunt personality, and turned to Peter and Emma. “Let’s go.”

Peter, still carrying Emma, followed behind her. He smiled as he watched MJ settle herself onto her favorite park bench – the same one they had first met at. Peter put Emma down, and they walked over to the open, grassy space before them. 

For a while, they worked on the backhand push over Peter had started teaching her but never finished. Once she seemed to grasp the move, they decided to just run around and play tag. Peter tried to get MJ to join, insisting it would be more fun with over two people playing. She continually declined, saying she was content to watch. Every once and a while, he would look up and see her concentrating deeply on a sketch she was working on.

When it was time for lunch, MJ directed them towards a place called Delmar’s Deli-Grocery. Apparently, her mom was friends with the owner or something like that. All Peter knew was MJ seemed to really like the sandwiches there, and he wanted her to be happy. 

He let her order for them, insisting that he trusted her judgement. After he said this, he realized he probably shouldn’t have. MJ seemed like the kind of person who would pull a major prank in a situation like this. Oh well. Too late now. He still let her order, but he insisted on paying for her. She argued that she was an independent woman who could buy her own food, but Peter wouldn’t hear it. He had dragged her into this babysitting situation, so there was no way he was going to let that go unpaid.

Once they got their food, Emma pointed out a person with a camera outside. She thought it was fantastic. She started waving to them.

“No, Emma. Don’t do that,” Peter hissed as he picked her up again to get her to stop. “We want them to pay less attention to us. Not more.”

“Well, he doesn’t look like he’s going to leave,” Emma stated.

“Yeah. I’m noticing that too.” Peter scrunched his face in contemplation. He knew the longer they stayed there, the more attention they could attract. What they really needed was to slip out of his sight. But where could they do that?

Reading his mind, MJ answered, “We could go back to my place. If we can drop him before we get there, he’ll have no clue where to look.”

“Are you sure?” Peter asked. “I don’t want to intrude, and if he somehow keeps up…”

“Oh, for crying out loud, would you stop asking if I’m sure. Yes. I’m sure.” She paused. “Besides, I’ve been outside long enough for today. I must recharge indoors.” Before Peter could protest anymore, she slipped out the door.

Peter shook his head before picking Emma up and making his way after her.

They took an indirect route back to her apartment. They wanted to make sure they lost the camera guy and his new press friend that had arrived on the scene. Since they couldn’t outrun them (First rule of trying to hide: Never run. Natasha had taught him that.), they had to make sure the men got lost.

Soon enough, MJ was closing her door behind their trio. Peter looked around at the apartment as he let Emma down. Now, he could actually appreciate the place as he wasn’t near death like last time. It was cozy and slightly cluttered, just like the Leeds house. It was much cleaner, but he supposed having two parents that worked in a hospital would cause that. Instead of toys being scattered around the house, there were books. Figures.

MJ got out their sandwiches and set them on plates. She placed them on the table by the living room couch. “I figured we could watch a movie or something while we at,” she said as she turned the TV onto Netflix. “I’ll let you pick though. I have no idea what you guys like to watch.”

“Yay! We can watch Moana!” Emma cried, plopping herself onto the couch and grabbing the remote out of an amused MJ’s hands.

Peter furrowed his brow. “Haven’t you watched that movie like a hundred times now?”

Emma crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks. “I said we can watch Moana.”

“Wow. This is a rollercoaster,” MJ deadpanned. “I’ll let you two settle….” She pointed between the two of them with her index finger. “…this. I’ll be back.” She turned and walked out of sight. Quickly, she called over her shoulder, “Peter, if you ruin my carpet again, I will throw you out the window.”

Emma turned to Peter. “You ruined her carpet? That wasn’t very nice.”

Peter ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah, it was an accident.” He thought for a second. “Now that I think about it, I think I still need to pay for that.”

Emma picked the sandwich off her plate. “I like your girlfriend,” she said before taking a huge bite. Well, huge for her.

Peter nearly choked on air. “She’s not my girlfriend, Emma. Well, not technically. I don’t think.”

Emma sent him a skeptical glance. “Why not? You act like it. Don’t you like her?”

Peter cleared his throat, trying to mask the way his voice was cracking. “Well, yeah.”

“Then why not?” Emma asked, her voice distorted due to another big bite she had just taken.

“It’s complicated.” Peter started fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. “Just haven’t really had the right time to do anything about it.”

“You should fix that.”

Peter walked over to the couch and sat in the middle, Emma on his left. “I will. When I get the chance to talk to her.”

MJ walked around the corner. “Sorry ‘bout that. Did I miss anything interesting? You guys figure out what we’re watching?”

Emma flopped over onto the armrest. “I already told you. We’re watching Moana.” 

“Okay then.” MJ grabbed her plate and sat on the right side of the couch. She positioned herself so her back was on the armrest and her feet were pointed towards Peter.

Emma rolled off the couch and grabbed the remote. “Peter needs to talk to you first though.”

Peter whipped his head toward the little girl. He could feel heat rushing to his face. Oh no. Not today. He was not having this. “Emma, stop it. Don’t even think about it.”

MJ raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “Okay, now I gotta know.” She looked straight at Peter, practically boring holes into his soul. “What you gotta tell me?”

“Nothing.”

“He wants you to be his girlfriend,” Emma said as she shoved another bite into her mouth.

“Will you shut up,” Peter hissed.

Emma turned around, looked straight at him, and said in all seriousness, “No. You need a girlfriend. On the TV, the sad boy always gets happy when he gets a girlfriend. You seem sad a lot. That means you need a girlfriend. Besides, you act like you’re married.” She turned to MJ. “So are you gonna be his girlfriend?”

Peter slowly turned to look at MJ. He wasn’t exactly sure what to expect.

MJ was looking between him and Emma. For the first time he could recall, she was wearing a full-on, genuine smile. Not her fake one. Not a smirk. A full smile. And it made him smile back.

And just like that, it was gone. It transformed into her smirk, the one that reminded him far too much of Natasha’s. “Depends on what he has to say.”

Emma tugged on his pant leg, causing him to look down at her. “Make it smooth,” she hissed loudly up at him. “That works in the movies.”

Peter shook his head. He turned to MJ, who was looking at him expectantly. He took a deep breath. How had he ended up here? He had not been planning on doing this today. 

But why not? What was really holding him back at this point? His own fears? That’s about it. Screw them. Might as well get it out while he had the temporary nerve. And external encouragement. Peer pressure. The ultimate motivator.

Heart hammering loudly in his chest, he finally blurted out, “MJ. Would you want to go on a date with me some time?”

MJ narrowed her eyes at him, causing his heart to skip a beat. “Will I get to see you beat up the paparazzi if I go out with you?”

Peter narrowed his eyes back at her. “Do you want to see me beat up the paparazzi?”

“Very much so.”

“Then why not.”

MJ paused. “Okay.”

Peter smiled. It was the big, toothy kind you can’t suppress no matter how hard you try. Not that he was really trying at the moment. “Okay?”

“Peter Parker, if you ask if I mean what I say one more time today, you’re not getting that date.”

“Sorry, sorry. I’ll shut up.”

Peter leaned back onto the couch. He felt that now familiar fluttering in his stomach. He can’t believe he had just done that. He had been thinking about it for so long, but he didn’t actually think it was going to happen any time soon. 

Now, it wasn’t going to be easy. And now was definitely not the best time with all the Elemental stuff going on. But he was still very excited at the prospect of taking MJ on a date. He would have to ask advice on it. Pepper would be a good person to ask. And maybe….

Peter groaned.

“What?” MJ asked, eyeing him warily.

He turned his head to look at her. “I don’t think Nat is ever going to leave me alone now.”


	16. Chapter 16: Down Time and Dating Lessons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since Peter doesn't really have a lot to base relationships off of, I think it's natural that he would be a little floundered and try to base his new relationship on the few examples he does have. But, MJ doesn't quite fit that mold. I've gone through this scenario myself in relationships - knowing that a guy is trying to be sweet, but not being able to appreciate it since it's just not like me. For example, I lose my mind (not in the good way) when a guy opens the door for me when I'm already right there. 
> 
> I thought that would be a pertinent lesson to throw in there for the teens. You don't have to act like you think you're expected to in a relationship. Just be yourselves.
> 
> Also, I love Fahrenheit 451. Definitely would recommend. One of the best books I was forced to read for a literature class, lol.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Thank you guys so much for looking after her. She seems to have had a wonderful time.”

“Oh, no problem, Misses Leeds,” Peter replied as he helped Emma into the car. “It was a lot of fun.”

“Bye, Peter.” Emma hugged him goodbye. She leaned over his shoulder. “Bye, MJ.”

MJ gave the girl a slight wave.

Misses Leeds hopped into her car, bid them farewell with one more thank you, and drove off. The two teens stood in the parking lot, now by themselves.

Peter swung his arms awkwardly, rocking back and forth on his feet. He felt a little strange now. He knew there really wasn’t anything different between them. She was still the same MJ, and he was still Peter. Plus, they had been working up to this for a while now. But that didn’t change the fact that he felt like he should be acting different somehow.

He still couldn’t believe she was actually his girlfriend. Like wow. Apparently stalking made a great first impression.

MJ cleared her throat. “So…. This is awkward.”

Peter chuckled. “Yeah. Just a little.”

“I, uh…. Are we gonna do something, or….”

“I mean, that’s up to you. Like, I don’t want to intrude if you had plans or anything.”

“Only with my book.”

Of course. Peter stuck his hands in his pockets, taking a small step forward. “That’s cool. What book?”

“Fahrenheit 451. It’s not as long as what I usually go for, but it’s a pretty good read. It’s a classic.”

Peter raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Yeah, totally.” He had no idea what this book was about, if it was really a classic, or even how long it was. He hadn’t even heard of it before. But if she liked it, then he would agree with her.

MJ narrowed her eyes. “You have no idea what book that is, do you?”

Chuckling nervously, Peter shook his head. “Not even the slightest clue.”

MJ paused, staring holes into him again. “Well, we should fix that.”

A smile spread across Peter’s face. “Really?”

MJ shrugged. “Why not. It’s better than reading it by myself. Besides, I.. uh…” MJ tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “…I sorta like having you around.”

“I like having you around too.”

The two stood in the middle of the parking lot, awkwardly smiling at one another. Peter found himself getting lost in the moment. He was thrilled that he could now hang out with his girlfriend. His girlfriend. Wow, that was fun to think. He had a girlfriend. No longer a girl friend, but a girlfriend. He couldn’t wait to tell Ned. Although, he wouldn’t be surprised if Emma beat him to that.

Suddenly, MJ was grabbing him by the arm. She practically threw towards the apartment buildings. “You know,” she began. “For a superhero with super senses, you really suck at paying attention to your surroundings.”

Peter glanced at her in confusion, but he kept walking towards the door. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I just saw like three sketchy cars pull up across the street, and it looked like you were about to throw your location out to the world if you didn’t get out of sight. So, you’re welcome.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

Peter opened the door, let MJ inside, and then closed the door behind them. Now that they were inside the building, they walked more slowly. They made their way to the elevator. 

MJ was nearing it when Peter got the impulse to push the button and open the door for her. That’s what boyfriends did right? That’s what he’d seen Steve do for various women – not that any of those were his girlfriend, but it was the same thought. And Tony would do it for Pepper sometimes. It was just the right thing to do. The chivalrous thing. Like the knights helping the princesses in the movies. 

He shuffled in front of her and pressed it, and then he gestured her inside when the doors opened.

Crossing her arms, MJ stared at him. Peter gulped. Apparently, that had not been an appreciated gesture.

“Okay, look,” MJ began as they got inside. “This isn’t the 1940’s. I am my own woman, thank you very much. I can do my own things. I can open my own doors if they are right in front of me.”

Peter ran his hand through his hair. “Sorry. My bad. I’m just not sure what to do now that we’re… you know… together.”

“Not that,” she deadpanned.

“Well, how would you like me to act then?”

Peter was at a complete loss. This was another reason why he hadn’t asked her out yet. He knew he would make a fool out of himself. He was struggling to act like a normal teen on his own as it was. Correction. He couldn’t act like a teen, on his own or not. So how was he supposed to act with a girlfriend?

Not to mention, he didn’t really have much to go off of. He knew how his parents acted. Even though they weren’t really that old, they acted like they’d been married for forty years. They bickered all the time, but they always looked out for each other. And they showed each other their love in the little ways. Well, Tony wasn’t always the best at little. (Pepper had told Peter a story about one time when Tony had bought her a giant stuffed rabbit.) But most of all, the two showed their affection through helping and supporting one another.

Peter was pretty sure he wasn’t anywhere near that level of a relationship with MJ.

Then, there was all the storied Peter had heard from Steve about courting. Peter didn’t understand it all. He still thought the Camolian way of fighting for a date was much simpler, but he did appreciate the nicer, human stuff. He liked the way Steve described chivalry and respect. That seemed like a very right way to go about things.

His attempt at that didn’t seem to be working.

That left what he saw on TV. Peter had seen a lot of teen relationships in shows and movies. They always followed the same basic formulas. Peter didn’t think either him or MJ fit into any of those molds, and he knew it would probably make her mad if he tried to act like they did.

Without even a moment’s hesitation, MJ replied to his question. “I want you to act like you were up until now. I want you to act like yourself.”

The elevator doors opened, and the two stepped out. “Well, that’s pretty boring.”

“I didn’t start liking you because you were exciting,” MJ stated as she opened her apartment door, and they stepped inside. “If I’m completely honest, I couldn’t care less that you’re a superhero. I definitely don’t care that you’re the son of a billionaire. You could be stripped to the most basic, everyday guy on earth, and I would be just fine with it.”

Peter furrowed his brow. Sure, he knew all of this logically. And it was one of the reasons he liked her so much. She was such a stark contrast to everyone else around him. But he didn’t understand what that had to do with how she wanted him to act as her boyfriend.

“Thanks. I really appreciate that. But how do you want me to act?”

MJ rolled her eyes. “Boys,” she huffed as she walked back to her room.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Peter called out. He wasn’t sure if she wanted him to follow her. He knew he had been in her room before. In fact, he had bled all over it. But was it okay for him to go in there now? Or should he just wait?

Just as he had decided to screw it and follow her, MJ walked back into view. Without a word, she approached him and plopped a sketchbook in his hands.

Peter looked down at it. He was half expecting to see some overdramatic sketch of him doing an everyday task but making him look like he was in a crisis. That’s what most of her pictures of him entailed. But that wasn’t what he saw.

For the first time he could recall, MJ had drawn a realistic portrait of someone outside of crisis. Two people, in fact. 

It was a picture of him helping Emma with her backbend. Emma was in the middle of it, completely bent over. His face had a tint of a smile, but it was also etched with concentration, preparing to help her up if she couldn’t make it on her own.

Before Peter was done taking it in, MJ was snatching the sketch out of his hands. He looked up to meet her gaze.

“That’s how I want you to act,” she said. She looked down at the book in her hands. “I don’t really have much luck when it comes to getting close to people. That’s why I kept my distance for so long. But then you sort of made that impossible.” She shuffled awkwardly, clearly struggling with finding the right words. Peter kept quiet, giving her the time she needed.

“Don’t get me wrong. You’re still a loser,” MJ continued. “But, I am too. I’m awkward, and I scare people away with my weird humor and obsessions. Except you. You stayed. And I really like that. I like how we can just casually hang out and do boring, loser stuff together. So don’t try and change that.”

Peter gazed at her, letting her words sink in. Slowly, he nodded. “Okay. I can do that.” 

Honestly, he felt a little relied hearing that. Sure, he wanted all the nice, sweet stuff one day, but he wasn’t really ready for it. And it seemed MJ wasn’t either. They just wanted to take things slow. To stay themselves. He could still be an awkward nerd, and she could still be a literature guru.

“So, are you gonna show me this book now?” Peter asked.

“Duh.” MJ curled herself up on the couch.

“What’s it about?” Peter asked as he positioned himself on the other end, facing her.

MJ cleared her throat as she read the back cover. “Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 is set in a dystopian society that burns books in order to control dangerous ideas and unhappy concepts. The novel tells the story of Guy Montag, a fireman who questions the book-burning policy and undergoes extraordinary suffering and transformation as a result.”

Peter leaned back onto the armrest. “You know, that doesn’t sound bad.”

MJ cocked an eyebrow at him. “You thought I was going to read a bad book?”

Peter waved his hands defensively. “What? No, no, no. I just meant… well… you usually read such long and complicated books. I wasn’t sure what it was going to be like.”

MJ smirked. “Well, if you’d rather, I could read you War and Peace.”

Peter eyed her skeptically. “I get the feeling saying yes to that puts me in danger, so I think I’ll just stick with this.”

MJ shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

She turned to the first page and began to read. “It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosine upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history….”

Peter settled himself farther into the couch, losing himself in MJ’s voice. Sure, the book seemed pretty good on its own, but hearing MJ read it just for him made the whole thing so much better. He smiled to himself as he realized he was finally getting that literature lesson Ned had set up for him all that time ago.

After some time, the two were startled out of the moment by the doorknob turning. Peter glanced over his shoulder to see MJ’s parents coming through the door. The two looked immediately to their daughter smiling, and then to Peter, somewhat confused.

“Peter,” Misses Jones said. “Nice to see you again.”

“Hey, Misses Jones. Mister Jones. Good to see you too.”

Misses Jones eyed him warily. “Don’t take this the wrong way. I am always here to help. But if you are here waiting for us so we can stitch you up again….”

“We’re just hanging out, Mom,” MJ interjected. “We baby sat together, and now we’re reading.”

“So, you’re not dying,” Mister Jones said slowly, “but the babies you’re sitting on probably are. Got it.”

Peter chuckled at the joke, finding it amusing.

MJ did not seem to share this feeling. “Wow, Dad. Ha ha. So funny.”

“Have you kids had supper yet? How about we order some pizza and all eat together. That sound good? You like pizza, right Peter?”

Peter felt his stomach growling at the thought of food, but he didn’t want to intrude on their family time. He knew from what MJ told him there were very few windows when they got to just relax together. “That’s okay. I don’t want to intrude. I can go home to my mom and eat.” He prepared to stand and leave.

“Oh, please,” Misses Jones called from around a corner. “You crossed the line of intrusion when we had to give you a blood transfusion at 4:30 in the morning. Besides, MJ talks about you all the time. I feel like you’re practically family from everything I know about you.”

Peter glanced over at MJ, who was trying desperately to hide a growing blush. She sent him a threatening glare, but he just found himself smiling at it.

That’s how he ended up on the floor at MJ’s feet, watching some horribly made superhero movie.

Unlike at Ned’s house, the Joneses commented on the movies, just like he did with his parents. He pointed out all the physics and action errors, MJ pointed out incorrect dialogue, and her parents debunked the anatomy and chemistry flaws. It was so fun and relaxing to sit there with them. Peter almost forgot about all the problems he had come here to escape in the first place.

Almost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all ain't ready for the next chapter....
> 
> See you Monday!


	17. Chapter 17: Not-So-Fun Phone Calls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Peter. He has no idea what he is doing, and he isn't thinking rationally (can't really blame him). His judgement is swayed by lingering guilt and fear. He has definitely mastered the art of blaming and belittling himself. 
> 
> He just wants to prevent anyone else from getting hurt, but he gets himself in way over his head.... And then everything goes even more downhill.
> 
> Quite a bit of action in this chapter. I hope you like it!

Buzzzzzzz. Buzzzzzz. Buzzzzzz.

Peter felt his phone ringing in his pocket. This didn’t really surprise him. He knew it was getting late. Pepper was probably wondering where he was since he had told her he would be back before supper. He stood up, walking away from the couch to not disturb everyone else watching the movie.

Without even looking at the contact, he hit the accept button. “Hey, Mom. I’m at MJ’s still.”

“We know exactly where you are, Agent Parker.”

Peter felt his whole body tense at Nick Fury’s voice. “Director Fury, Sir. What can I do for you?” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw MJ turn to face him in concern, but he didn’t pay much attention to her.

“We have another Elemental for you to take down. Two, in fact.”

“Two? I thought they were just growing. Not congregating.” Peter couldn’t believe this. They were hard enough to take down as it was. Now they had to take them down two at a time?

“They’re doing both. Why do you think everybody else is still out fighting them?”

Oh. Yeah. There was that. He should have been paying closer attention. He hadn’t really looked at the news or anything in a few days. All it did was stress him out. He knew if anything truly important happened, he would be notified personally by someone.

“So, what are we gonna do? If they just keep coming back bigger and in greater numbers, taking these down won’t solve much? How do we make them stop for good?”

“We can continue this discussion when you’re on a jet and headed towards the Elementals.”

“Wait. I don’t have my suit. I’ll head back to the tower.” Peter started making his way towards the door.

“It’s already been picked up for you. There’s a large church parking lot a few blocks down from you. Lucky for your secret girlfriend, we don’t have enough space to land right beside her apartment like we could with the Leeds’ house, so the jet landed there. Get there as quick as you can.” With that, the man hung up.

“Do you have to go fight?” MJ asked, rising from the couch. She was trying to pull off her typical non-caring vibe, but Peter could see straight through it.

“Yeah. I gotta go. There’s a jet waiting for me.” He turned to her parents as he scrambled towards the door. “Don’t worry. They should be far enough away that you won’t be affected.”

“Thanks, son,” Mister Jones said. He stood up and extended his hand to Peter. “Be safe. And if you aren’t, go to the hospital this time.”

Peter chuckled as he grasped the hand firmly. “Don’t worry. I learned my lesson.”

“Come back again, Peter,” Misses Jones called from the couch.

“Thanks. I hope to.” With that, Peter was heading out the door. 

Peter paused when he realized he was being followed. He turned to see MJ right on his heels. 

“You’re not coming with me. I’m not letting you get hurt,” he said sternly. He was already stressed at the thought of everything being amped up. And he still wasn’t over what happened to Raymond. He knew MJ was amazing and super smart, but he didn’t want her anywhere near those things when they went.

“Oh, chill. I just….” She swept some hair behind her ear. “Good luck.”

He smiled at her. “Thanks. I’m sure I’ll need it.”

He turned to leave, but she grabbed him by the arm. She pulled him backwards until she was hugging him from behind. Peter figured this was deliberate – so he wouldn’t see her face. 

“Don’t be stupid, loser.” She let go and stepped back.

Peter looked over his shoulder. He shrugged. “No promises.”

With that, he took off towards the stairwell. He jumped the whole thing, rolling when he reached the bottom. Immediately, he was pushing off to run out the door. In no time, he was at the church parking lot. He rushed into the jet, closed the door behind him, and sat down. Immediately, they were taking off.

To Peter’s surprise, there was no one else with him. Granted, it was a smaller jet, so it couldn’t hold many people. This didn’t bother him though. Honestly, he hoped he could work alone. That way, he didn’t have to worry about anyone else getting hurt. He could just have a guy in the chair. That would work for him.

He found the suit that had been picked up for him. It wasn’t his best one, but there was no way the pilot who picked it up could have known that. And this was better than nothing. He slipped it on and sat back down.

A screen on the jet wall lit up, showing an incoming message. Peter stood up, hit a button to accept it, and sat back down again. Fury and another agent (Peter thought he remembered her name being Hill) popped onto the screen.

“So what am I up against?” Peter asked.

“One fire Elemental, and one water one.”

“Well, that shouldn’t be too….”

“If you dare finish that sentence, I swear you deserve anything that comes to you.”

Peter shut his mouth. Yeah, he probably should have seen that coming. He’d jinked himself enough by now to know better. He didn’t need any more bad luck.

Agent Hill spoke up from beside Fury. “We have most of our agents – including your team – scattered around the globe, fighting these things. We’ve managed to get a few together that will meet you on site, but you’ll have to wait for them. We don’t want you taking these things on by yourself.”

“Yes, ma’am. Absolutely. That would not be smart.”

There was no way he was going to wait for anyone else. If he was getting called in, they were clearly desperate. He didn’t need anyone else getting hurt around him. That would just lessen SHIELD’s numbers even more. How was that going to help anybody? 

Besides, if he knew he had to do something by himself, he would be more likely to manage it. He had stepped up when the Scripa attacked, and he’d managed to take down the whole ship by himself in the end. If he could step up on his own then, he could do it now. It was only when he knew someone else could step up and do it for him that there was a problem. He just couldn’t have somebody to fall back on. Then, he would win.

“Good,” Fury replied. “Once you’re done, we’ll bring you back to the base. Go through all the usual.” He paused. “You’re good at science, aren’t you? Keep up with Stark and Banner?”

“Yes, Sir. Well, somewhat. I’m not quite at their level, but I understand enough.” Peter wasn’t sure why the director would be asking that, but he was sure he wasn’t going to like it. He didn’t want them to give him something and then him mess up calculations or statistics or schematics or whatever they needed.

“Good. We have some agents here trying to figure out the science behind these things. Think of a way to take them down for good. You’re gonna help them.”

Peter’s eyes widened. “I’m not so sure that’s a good….”

Suddenly, there were red lights flashing in the SHIELD facility. Hill immediately slipped off screen. Fury bid Peter good luck and did the same.

That left Peter, by himself, contemplating everything that was happening. First, he was about to take on two elementals by himself. Sure, he would rather it be that way than with other people, but that didn’t lessen the tightening in his chest. And second, SHIELD was going to put him in charge of all that super science stuff? Why? Surely there were better people for the job. Sure, he had excelled in every science class and had solved a lot of complex problems and had listened to Bruce and Tony speak their stuff all the time and understood it almost perfectly, but that didn’t mean he trusted himself with it. He couldn’t accept failure. People’s lives were on the line. He couldn’t do this. They needed to find someone else.

Before he knew it, Peter was landing. Once again, he was told by the pilot to wait. Then, the jet took off. Peter was almost impressed by how much they trusted him to actually wait like he was told. That trust was largely misplaced.

He didn’t even hesitate to locate the Elementals and race towards them. Did he have any idea where he even was? Nope. Some desert. That was about as specific as he could get. Was there much to work with around him? Nope. Not even buildings. Just giants stomping around in the distance. Was this a stupid move? Without a doubt. But he wasn’t going to stop.

From the second Fury told him one was fire and the other was water, Peter had been formulating a plan. He was going to try and get them to collide, canceling each other out. After all, water was how he had defeated the first fire one.

The two Elementals were staying a good distance apart and heading in opposite direction. They must know that would happen if they got too close. That meant they would probably fight to stay apart.

Maybe this would be a little harder than he thought. Oh well. He would do it. He had to.

It would be better to lure one of them towards the other than to try and corral both simultaneously. He went for the fire. That seemed easier. Just lure it with flammable things, right? Seemed pretty simple.

As he drew nearer, he started looking for something like a wooden beam or piece of cloth. But there wasn’t any. Cause they were in the middle of the desert. So that wasn’t going to work. Now that he thought about it, how were either of these even here? There was no water and no fire fuel. It didn’t make any sense.

Maybe he should have thought a little more about what to do rather than overthinking everything else.

Too late for that now.

He ran up to it, yelling at the Elemental and flailing his arms around. This drew its attention. It threw a few fireballs at him, which he easily dodged. Quickly, he started to run in an arc, heading back towards the water elemental. The fire giant seemed to huff and then continued on its current course.

Peter stopped in his tracks. Well, what was he supposed to do now? He had remembered fire being a lot easier to provoke. Maybe he was remembering wrong. Or it could have been because they were actively shooting water at it. Who knew. Maybe the water would be easier to taunt and guide around.

He turned and ran towards the water giant. It was strange, feeling the sand beneath him go from scorching hot to wet and mushy. It made it difficult to run. 

Once again, he tried to provoke the Elemental. It didn’t even give him a glance. Peter tried a more direct method. He ran directly up to it and shot a line of webbing at it. The webbing hit the water and sunk into it. Awesome. Progress. Peter pulled on it, trying to pull it towards the fire giant.

Instead, he was pulled towards the Elemental. It was enveloping the line of webbing. Perfect. Just what he needed. He let go of it and ran to the middle of the two.

He huffed. He had zero clue how to handle this right now. Clearly, he should have been paying more attention. Maybe he should have watched the news more. Yeah, it made him stressed, but he might have been able to pick up on some behavioral cues. Or, it would also be helpful to have someone else who knew what they were doing. Like one of the Avengers. They had to know what they were doing by now.

“Man, I want to ask Dad for help right now,” Peter mumbled to himself.

Peter startled as a voice sounded in his ear. “Calling Tony Stark.” He had honestly forgotten about the AI he’d installed in his suits and Ned’s headset until that exact moment. Glad to know it worked….

As a dial tone started, Peter’s eyes grew wide. “What? No, no, no. I didn’t actually mean…. He’s way too busy. Stop the call! Stop the….”

Tony’s face popped into the corner of Peter’s screen. He looked sweaty, tired, and beat up. His eyes kept darting around him. Clearly, he was in the middle of fighting something himself.

“Hey, kid. I know I tell you to call me any time, but I’m really a little busy.”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to,” Peter apologized rapidly. His words came out more like vomit than coherent sentences. “I was just talking out loud about how I wished I knew more about these things so I could actually stop them and….”

Tony’s eyes widened. “Hold up. SHEILD has you fighting these things too? Are they not telling you what to do?”

Peter chuckled awkwardly. “Well, they sorta think I’m waiting on backup.”

Tony’s expression sombered. He seemed very distracted, but he continued to speak. “And why are you not waiting?”

“Because.”

“That’s a horrible answer.”

“I know. I know. And I realize it’s stupid. But I’m already in it now. But I’ll hang up. I know you’re busy.”

“Wait, kid. Just one sec.” Tony seemed to mute his link with Peter and talk to someone else. Probably someone he was fighting with. His eyes were darting everywhere, clearly maneuvering the suit or calculating a plan. Or both. Things seemed to be getting worse on his end. 

This made Peter feel even more guilty. He’d been trying to prevent people from being hindered by him.

Tony’s voice became clear again. “Okay. So. What are you up against exactly? Talk quick.”

Peter couldn’t belive his dad was having to take the time out of his own mission to baby him. If Tony had figured out how to fight these things on his own, he should be able to as well. “It’s fine. Really. You should worry about yourself.”

Tony sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. “Look. I’m going to worry about you more than my own predicament no matter what. The quicker you let me help you, the quicker I can get back to my stuff.”

Peter looked between the two Elementals, which were getting farther and farther apart. He knew his dad was right. He wouldn’t stop thinking about him. Tony never stopped worrying about him.

Peter sighed. “One fire. One water. In the middle of the desert with nothing around. I want to get them to cancel each other out, but I can’t get them near each other.”

“They’re naturally repulsed,” Tony commented.

“Yeah. I see that now. So how to you fight that? How can I lure them? I have no water or flammable things.”

Tony paused. Peter couldn’t tell if this was for thinking for Peter or for his own side of the fighting. Probably both. He eventually spoke up. 

“Okay. Your best bet would probably be to control the water. It seems to gravitate towards drier areas. Makes sense, right. If you look, it’s probably going towards something. Maybe a city or deeper pit of sand or something. Now, if you can somehow move the sand so there’s more of it in one area, it might go towards it, trying to wet the dry spot.”

Peter shook his head in amazement. He never would have thought of this on his own. His dad really was a genius. Or he himself was just stupid. “Thanks, Dad. I think I can do that.”

“That’s great, kiddo.” 

There was another long pause. Tony seemed to have reentered the active fighting. He was making a lot of faces that were definitely not directed at Peter. The boy was honestly growing concerned for his father. 

In that moment, he decided it was better watching the fights on TV because he couldn’t see his family’s faces. This was much more personal. He didn’t like it.

“Okay. I really wish I could keep helping you, bud, but I can’t. I gotta….” Tony’s head whipped to the side, and his eyes grew large. There was a muffled scream before the screen went black, followed by static and a disconnected line.

“Dad! DAD!” Peter yelled.

What had he done?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know.... I'm evil when it comes to cliffhangers.... Sorry (no I'm not)....
> 
> See you Thursday!


	18. Chapter 18: What Have I Done?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like Peter has a pretty natural response in this. Like he says, anger is easier to control than all the other emotions he is feeling. He got mad, acted stupid, and then gets banged up. He can't really process anything because he is so focused on suppressing his pain and blaming himself. Then, he shuts everyone out. Not saying it's a good coping mechanism. Just saying it makes sense.
> 
> Sorry for the evil cliffhanger last chapter. And for basically the entirety of the next few chapters. 
> 
> But on the plus side, you get to see Rhodey now. So there's that.
> 
> Anyway. Welcome back to be writing emotional rollercoasters. Hope you like it!

Peter stared out the window of the jet. He had no idea how he got there. He felt like his head was at the end of a long tunnel. He was completely zoned out, and his senses had gone haywire.

He had random flashes of memory from fighting the Elementals. He had completely lost his mind during it, so he couldn’t remember much. Which was probably for the best. He was sure someone else could tell him and SHIELD about it. After all, backup apparently showed up at some point. They had to know more.

If he had to guess, he did something stupid, and SHEILD fixed it with his dad’s genius plan. Through the setting sun, he could just make out the strange, damp and charred hills sprinkling the ground while looking out the jet window.

He knew he hadn’t been the one to take them out, though. How? Because he had a dislocated knee, cracked ribs, a killer concussion, and a throbbing and bruised everything. That did not occur from moving sand in the rational and methodical manner necessary to bring the Elementals down.

No. He had done something stupid. No idea what since his brain getting slammed against his skull so many times caused him to black out and forget. But he knew it was something dumb. And he knew why he had done it.

Because all he could properly think about was his dad.

He had no idea what had happened to him. He knew it wasn’t good. And he knew it was his fault. He knew that look on Tony’s face right before he lost the connection would haunt him, probably for the rest of his life. And he hated it.

No one would tell him anything, and it was making him very mad. He’d been seeing red for a while now – and no, it was not from the fires. 

SHIELD dragged him straight into the hospital wing. He didn’t like being there on a good day, but this was practically torture. The nurses and doctors kept asking him things, but he just didn’t respond. He couldn’t really. At the moment, there were only two things he could remember and process.

First, he remembered his rage. He had a vague memory of throwing a lot of things. This didn’t make a lot of sense since there wasn’t anything around him in the desert. But he supposed he’d found something in his desperation. He knew everything he did in that moment was stupid, just like everything else he’d been doing. Rage wouldn’t fix anything, but it was easier to control than the fear he had for his dad.

The second thing he was sure about was that Fury had temporarily called him off active duty. He claimed that Peter was unfit to be working any time soon. Dumb luck Sherlock. Peter could have told him that a long time ago.

Thankfully, everyone had enough sense to just send him home once morning arrived. There was no point in trying to get a full report out of him. And there was no way he was going to be thinking through any scientific mess right now. He was basically useless. Figures.

Peter was relieved to be back home. He knew it wouldn't change the situation, but at least it was home. At least it would be better, right?<-p>

When he hobbled out of the limo to enter Stark Tower, he was swarmed by the press.

“Is Tony Stark dead?”

“Are all of the Avengers in mourning?”

“Are the rumors true that he is paralyzed?”

“How are you holding up with all of these threats?”

“Why are you still here and not across the globe with everyone else? What are you yourself doing about all of this?”

Peter plugged his ears. All his senses were already dialed going crazy, and these bright flashes and yelling people were only making it worse. Not to mention the things they were saying.

He felt tears streaming down his face. Normally, he would be really embarrassed by this. He was a soldier. He had been trained for years not to respond like this in public. He would suppress his tears or at least hide them from people. He was supposed to be strong. 

But not today. He had clearly showed he was not that anymore. Maybe he was great at being an alien soldier and a neighborhood hero, but he was useless when it came to the big earth stuff. He just got in the way. People kept getting hurt because of him. And there was nothing he could do about it but wait.

Peter felt a hand on his shoulder. He winced as it rested on a nasty bruise. He lifted his bowed head. He didn’t realize he had stopped in his tracks and tried to curl in on himself.

There was a man who appeared to be an Air Force colonel standing before him, smiling gently. “Come on, kid. Let’s get you to your mom.”

With that, the man was helping him into the tower. Peter wasn’t sure how he’d gotten the press to back off, but he was glad he did. He didn’t think he could have handled any more of it on his own. The two walked into the elevator. Without even saying anything, JARVIS took them up to the Stark’s private floor.

As soon as the doors opened, Peter saw Pepper rush off the couch towards them. She paused for a moment, looking at the man. “Rhodey?”

The man shrugged. “Surprise.”

Peter had no idea who this was supposed to be. Well, he did. He recognized the name. Tony had brought him up quite a few times, but he was away with the Air Force. Looked like he was back now. All this did was confirm to Peter just how bad things must be for them.

Peter locked eyes with his mother. Hers were red and raw. Peter’s heart broke even more. He knew it was all his fault. Whether it was due to her husband’s current condition – whatever that was – or her son’s, it was his fault. And he hated himself for it.

The mother opened up her arms to invite a welcoming embrace. All Peter wanted to do was rush into them and be consoled, but he knew he didn’t deserve it. 

He pushed himself off Rhodey’s arm, which he had been leaning on for support, and brushed past Pepper towards his room. This wasn’t a very quick process since he couldn’t walk well with his crutch. 

He could see his mother’s heart shattering further as he passed, making him feel sick about himself. He definitely didn’t deserve to be comforted now.

Once in his room, he closed the door behind him. He collapsed on his bed. His body protested to this, but he ignored it. Let the pain come.

Even though there was a wall between them, Peter could hear Pepper and Rhodey talking. His senses were still in overdrive. He wished it would just shut off, but that was too much to ask for.

“Do you know what happened?” Pepper asked.

“Not really. I tried to talk to Fury on my way here, but he was too busy. No one else would tell me anything. All I know is that Tony’s in pretty rough condition. Somehow, Peter seemed to know when it happened. Maybe it’s like a sixth sense thing or something. Whatever the reason, he’s lashing out. I can’t really blame him.”

He heard the couch squeak as Pepper sat on it. “I can’t believe this,” she said as her voice wavered. “I saw a clip on the news.” She sucked in a shaky breath. “I saw him. He was hit. It looked so bad. There was a picture of the armor. There’s no way he got out of that okay. I mean, I know Tony pulls some ridiculous stunts, but there’s no way this is one of them.”

“Is it true Barton is coming here with him?”

“I think. That’s what I heard, but I really don’t know what’s true anymore. I’m getting so many mixed messages. I just… I want to know he’s not….”

“I’m sure he’s better than we think. I mean, you know how dramatic he is. He’ll probably show up with some cracked bones and bruises and be back out there before we know it.”

There was a long pause. Clearly, neither of them believed that. Peter didn’t either. He hadn’t seen or heard anything, but he didn’t believe it.

“I wonder what Peter knows,” Pepper continued after a while. “I don’t understand how he could know.”

“Isn’t he super-human or something?”

“I don’t think it works like that. There must be something we’re missing. Especially for Peter to respond this drastically. He’s been getting better about working through his emotions healthily with me and Tony, but he’s clearly not doing that now. For him to completely brush past like that, it must be really bad. And I don’t know how to help him when he does that.”

“Well, you won’t have to figure it out by yourself.”

Peter jolted as his phone rang. He grabbed it and declined without even looking at who it was. He didn’t care. He wanted to be left alone.

He leaned his head back on his pillow. Once more, he felt the sting of tears around his eyes. Was it really as bad as they were saying? Had he caused his dad to be hurt that severely? Had he caused him to be… to be… what the press said?

His phone rang again. Peter huffed as he declined it again. He just wanted to wallow in his own misery until someone told him what was going on. He knew why no one was saying anything. SHIELD was keeping everything under wraps. He was sure he would appreciate the privacy later, but right now he just wanted answers. The one time he actually needed the press to be beyond nosey, they let him down.

His phone rang a third time. Peter grabbed it. He was done with this. He was going to make sure they didn’t call back. “What!” he yelled into it.

There was dead silence. At first, he wondered if he had even accepted the call. Then, a very timid and shaken voice spoke up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you’d be mad.”

If it was possible, Peter’s heart broke even more. He had just yelled at Emma. She was scared. By him. He had done that. He had hurt her. Just like he was hurting everyone else. 

“Emma, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean… I… I didn’t mean it. Just… don’t be upset. I’m not mad at you. I promise.”

There was silence on the other end for a while. Peter felt his chest clenching tighter and tighter with every second Emma didn’t respond. Finally, she said, ”I saw you get hurt.”

Peter slowly inhaled. “Oh really?” he asked, making his voice as kind and gentle as possible in compensation for his outburst.

“Yeah. It looked scary. But you looked pretty scary too. You didn’t look like you. I didn’t like it. I want you to go back to being you. Are you gonna go back to being my normal bestest friend soon?”

Peter clapped his hand over his mouth as he began to sob. He tried to keep his voice steady though. For her sake. “I don’t know, Emma. I don’t know anything right now.”

Emma paused. “Well, can you try? I don’t like you being scary.”

Peter nodded vigorously. He realized she couldn’t see it. “Yeah. Just for you. I won’t be scary anymore.”

Emma paused again. “Is your daddy hurt? I heard my mommy say something about him. If you need, you can come spend the night. When my dad got hurt one time, I stayed at Grandma’s house. But you can come with us.”

Peter could barely contain himself at this point. He took a few deep breaths before he could reply. “Emma. I know you have a lot of questions. It’s all very confusing. I know. But for now, I don’t have answers. And I have to go. But I’ll talk to you another time.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to you later…. I love you, bestest friend.” With that, she hung up. 

As Peter clicked off his phone, he saw the contact had been for Misses Leeds. Emma must have snuck the phone to talk to him. She had gone out of her way, risking being caught and punished, just to ask if he and his dad were okay. That little detail was just enough to send him over the edge.

Between the revelations Emma gave him and his prior, festering emotions, Peter gave up on what little composure he had. He slid onto his side, despite his injured body’s protests. He wrapped himself around a pillow and began to sob. His whole body convulsed with the action.

A few moments later, he felt the bed bend underneath another person’s weight. Pepper wrapped herself around him. She began to stroke his hair. He could feel her tears dripping onto his head, but he didn’t care. 

She whispered to him about how everything would be okay. Peter was pretty sure that was more for herself than it was for him. It didn’t do anything for either of them though.

He had no idea how long they stayed like that. They fell into silence. It wasn’t awkward, but it wasn’t peaceful either. It was just the result of neither of them having the energy to break it.

Then, JARVIS’s voice broke through the silence. It was quiet and almost distressed, as if sensing the atmosphere of the room. “You might be interested in knowing a SHEILD helicopter landed on the tower. Nurses and agents are leading Mister Barton and Mister Stark towards the med bay.”

Pepper jolted upright in bed. “He’s here?” She wiped the tear streaks from her eyes as she hopped off the bed and rushed out the door.

Peter was left by himself in the room, wondering what was waiting for him when he inevitably followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when this story was all fluff, lol.
> 
> See you with more on Monday!


	19. Chapter 19: Blame and Guilt Games

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most people would use the "the main characters always turn out okay" trope in this situation. Not I. I go all in.
> 
> When I first wrote this whole arc, I had no idea why I wrote it. I wasn't satisfied with it cause I felt like I wasn't portraying it well. Then, my dad ended up getting in an accident. I had to wait outside of the hospital (thanks to regulations for these 'unprecedented times'), not really knowing anything about his condition. Needless to say, when I sat down to edit these chapters, I had a whole new perspective.
> 
> Anyway. I hope you like the final product for this chapter!

Peter sat in his room. He didn’t know what he was in for when he went to the med bay. It scared him. He knew it would be bad. He knew he wouldn’t like it. And most of all, he knew it was all his fault.

He was frozen in place. He wanted to know what was going on. What were Pepper and this Rhodey guy seeing? Had they already figured out it was his fault? How would they respond when they inevitably did?

When it was too much for him to handle, he finally decided to figure out what was going on. He still didn’t dare move though.

“Hey, JARVIS?” he questioned, his voice quieter than he was expecting.

“Yes, Peter?”

“What’s going on?”

“Mister Stark was just pulled out of surgery. The surgeon attempted to reattach his distal right leg….”

Peter felt like the tower had collapsed in on him. “He did what?” he asked, barely above a whisper. Part of him was hoping he’d heard that incorrectly.

“Mister Stark’s leg was mostly removed on the impact. The best course of action was to remove it entirely. They attempted to reattach it, but the procedure was not initiated quickly enough. The surgeon has now closed up the stump. They are unsure of when he will wake up, but they will continue to monitor him as they prepare Mister Barton for his procedure.”

Peter’s eyes widened. He had no idea how to process this information. He put a hand over his face to try and stop his world from spinning. It was getting harder to breath now, but he pushed through it. 

“What happened to Clint?” he asked the AI. He wondered if he had caused those injuries as well.

“He has a broken femur. He will be out of the field for quite some time as well.”

“Was he with my dad?”

“No. He was fighting in a different location.”

Peter breathed out deeply. It wasn’t really a sigh of relief, but he did feel the tiniest bit of weight lift off his chest. That meant he had only caused his own father to be seriously injured, not Clint. Wow. So much better. He was such a great son.

Peter sat up sharply, his whole body protesting at the motion. Not that he paid any attention. He was too busy thinking about what he had just remembered.

The first time he had met Clint, the man had confessed to him something he said no one else here knew. He had a family. A wife and kids. The man went home to them quite often, always covering up what was happening from the rest of the team. Peter was pretty sure Natasha knew, but really, how would she not.

All of this meant that Clint had a family out there, who just like him was panicking because they didn’t know their loved one’s condition. The thought nearly made Peter puke.

How would they find out? Did they already know Clint was hurt, or were they in the dark to that too? Was SHIELD going to tell them everything? Would they be allowed to see him soon? What all was going to happen?

Groaning, Peter flopped back onto his bed. He was really having to focus on just breathing at this point. His was trying to slow down his racing mind and heart, but it wasn’t working well. This was too much for him. He knew he had to get over it and suck it up, but he wanted to wallow for just a bit longer. 

After quite some time, he managed to slow himself down. His whole fiasco with the press, breakdown with Pepper, and now the wearing off of his anxiety rush culminated in his body shutting down. 

He was suddenly so tired. He decided to close his eyes for a little bit….

He was back out in the desert. He was fighting the Elementals. Except everyone he cared about was there with him. All of the Avengers. Pepper. Ned. Even MJ and Emma. They were all there. And he watched in horror as the Elementals attacked them. He screamed. He ran at them. But he wasn’t going anywhere. He was incapable of helping them. He watched in despair as everyone he cared about was destroyed. He had failed again. He screamed in desperation. The sound was deafening. It was growing louder, and yet it sounded like it was through a tunnel. He just kept screaming and flailing, trying to get to them. It felt so real….

Peter’s eyes shot open as hands latched onto his shoulders. His vision didn’t focus on anything though. He could just make out blurry images of movement and a human form in front of him.

He still heard the screams, and he realized the sound was emanating from his own throat. He was thrashing in real life too. He didn’t know if he had been doing that the whole time or only now that he was trapped by someone else. Either way, he was on the verge of doing some serious damage with his super strength.

A man’s voice started to speak to him. He had no idea who it was since his eyes still hadn’t focused on the figure. 

“Kid. You’re okay. Everything’s gonna be okay. Just breathe. Copy me, okay? Nice big breath in….” He heard a steady inhale. “And out.” There was an exhale. The man continued to do this, repeating the steps in a calm and collected voice. 

With great effort, Peter tried to imitate the man’s breathing. It was impossible at first. He could barely get in a breath, much less a deep and controlled one. 

Gradually, his mind and body began to slow again. His heart rate decreased, and his breathing followed suit. He focused his gaze on Rhodey, who was the man in front of him.

“You good now?”

Peter nodded. “Sorry. I don’t know what just happened.”

“Yeah, you do. You just don’t want to admit it. Trust me. I’ve seen Tony have enough panic attacks and flashbacks to know that.”

“You’ve helped my dad?”

Rhodey shook his head with a chuckle. “Of course Tony didn’t tell you about me. Typical.”

“Oh no. He did. I just didn’t realize you were that close.” Now Peter felt bad for making Rhodey feel like Tony talk about him. Great. He was hurting more people. Just his specialty.

“I’m joking, kid. Relax. I know it’s hard, but chill.”

The two settled into silence. Peter hated it. It just meant his mind could run wild. Except, now he was stressing over more things than he had been before. 

He also didn’t know how to feel about the man beside him. He knew logically that Rhodey was a friend. But he’d also never met the man in person before, so how was he supposed to feel?

Peter cleared his throat to break the silence. He asked the first thing that popped into his head. “So. What brings you here?”

“Your room, the tower, or New York?”

Peter paused for a moment. “…Yes.”

“Well, as you might or might not know, I used to work with your dad as the liaison between Stark Industries and the Department of Acquisitions. Basically, I babysat your dad. Once SI stopped selling weapons, I still stuck around to keep an eye on him. I mean, there was no telling what he would do with his suit. But then SHIELD took an interest. They started forming the Avengers. Since SHIELD was watching your dad, the Air Force pulled me away and decided to use me elsewhere. That was until SHIELD became desperate over these fire-water-catastrophe-in-the-making things. Then, they suddenly remembered I existed and pulled me to New York.”

“So, since you already had experience with my dad, they called you in as Avengers backup?”

“Basically. And then your dad went down right when I got to SHEILD headquarters. I came right over after that.”

Peter hung his head. He imagined how hectic that must have looked at the base. With everyone who was left there running around and trying to keep everything from getting worse than it already was. And it was largely his fault.

“This might not be any of my business,” Rhodey began as he eyed the boy questioningly, “but do you know something about Tony being hit that I don’t?”

Peter gulped. He looked up at the man beside him. He knew he should tell someone. He really should. He should take the blame for what he did. He deserved to take the blame. But he didn’t want to. 

He half suspected Rhodey to force it out of him, but he didn’t. He just waited patiently for the boy to speak. After a while, Peter finally built himself up to responding.

He took a deep breath. “I’m the reason he got hurt.”

Rhodey blinked at him a few times. “What is it with you Starks blaming yourself for everything that isn’t even related to you?”

“No. You don’t understand. It actually was my fault. He was talking to me when it happened. I distracted him. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have been talking to him. I should have just not said I needed help and done it on my own.”

Rhodey ran his hand over his face as he pondered Peter’s words. “I can see how you can blame yourself. But trust me. I know Tony well enough to know he was better off helping you than being distracted by worrying the whole time. Besides. He could have gotten hit even if you weren’t talking to him. You can’t blame yourself for it.”

Peter snorted out a mirthless laugh. Sure he could.

“You know, it would probably help you feel better if you went up there and saw him.”

Peter fiddled with his hands. He didn’t want to admit to this man just how scared he was to see his father. He was scared of what would be told to him. He was scared to see just how bad it was. The information JARVIS had given him had rattled him to his core. He couldn’t even imagine. He hadn’t really processed it yet. And he had no idea if the images his mind had conjured based on the press rumors and the AI’s statements were anywhere near accurate.

Apparently, he didn’t need to vocalize his fears for Rhodey to know them. “I get it. You’re scared. But trust me. Sitting down here and not seeing him is just making it worse.”

Peter took a shaky breath. He knew he was right. It wasn’t helping anything. Plus, he now felt even more guilty about not going up there to see him. “Will you come with me?” he asked. 

He knew he was acting like a little baby, but screw it. He was still a kid. And he was a scared kid that wanted his parents but couldn’t have them because they were up in the med bay. Because of him. So, by all means he would ask this man he barely knew to go with him. He had already helped him after all. Twice, in fact. And he’d already seen Tony.

Rhodey gave Peter the response he did not want to hear. “I think this is something you have to do on your own, kid.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Rhodey stood up, patting Peter on the shoulder. “You know, I’m glad you’re here though. I saw your parents mourning when you were taken. It was actually a great motivation for your dad. I hate I wasn’t here to see you come back. That had to have been something special.”

Peter scrunched his face at the memory. He recalled how he had resisted everything from earth. How he had refused for the longest time to view anyone here as his family. How he didn’t even want to stay until everything blew up in his face.

“It was interesting.”

“Well, I have to go back to SHIELD. I hope you have a good visit with your dad. I’ll see ya.”

“Yeah. Thanks. And thanks for helping me with… you know.”

“Any time.”

With that, Rhodey left Peter to himself once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We'll finally get to see Tony in the next chapter. About time.
> 
> See you on Thursday!


	20. Chapter 20: Med Bay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Peter finally gets up to the Med Bay.... Wow, bet you never would have guessed from the chapter title, lol. Gets to see Tony and even Clint. The beginning of the chapter is a little heavier, but it gets better as the chapter progresses.
> 
> Is the rising plot at the end of this chapter smart? Absolutely not. Especially when you think about how Peter isn't really thinking straight. But, you know, they've gotta do something while they're out of commission. And it ultimately works out okay.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter!

Peter took a deep breath as he stepped into the elevator. “JARVIS. Take me to the med bay.”

He felt the elevator moving beneath him. His heartrate gradually increased as both the floor and his stress level climbed. 

He wondered if Pepper was still in there. He felt bad that she had been left by herself with her husband. That couldn’t be easy. He wondered if it had been too much and she had left. He wouldn’t blame her either way.

The doors opened in front of him. Peter stared blankly ahead. He didn’t want to get out yet. He felt like he physically couldn’t – and not just because of his injured knee. He didn’t know what to brace himself for. 

He decided to take everything in from the elevator first. There didn’t seem to be a lot of people in the room. There were one or two nurses checking everything, but that seemed to be it. There were lots of noises and sounds that were standard for a hospital. He could hear the steady sound of a heart monitor. Steady was good.

With a deep breath, he positioned his crutch and took one step into the room. He quickly identified where his dad must be. It was the section of the room that was closed off by those sheets hanging from the ceiling. 

He saw Clint sitting in a bed on the other end of the room. The man looked up from a tablet he was messing with and smiled at the boy. 

Peter smiled back. That helped his nerves some. If Clint had given him a sad face, that would have been a bad sign. But he gave him a happy face. That meant good things. Right?

As he drew nearer, he could make out some shapes through the sheet. The two chairs beside his dad’s bed were empty. So, Pepper had left. Oh well. At least he had Clint across the room. That made him feel a little better.

With a shaky hand, he pulled aside the sheet and stepped in front of the bed, taking in the sight of his dad.

Tony was hooked up to goodness knows how many IVs and monitors and who knew what else. Peter didn’t know what half the medical stuff was. That was not his forte. He was wrapped in bandages all over. Peter could see a lot of bruising as well.

In some way, he felt the tiniest bit of relief seeing his dad. By no means had his guilt lessened, but he at least knew his dad wasn’t in the worst possible condition. He was still breathing. His heart was beating. He was patched up just fine. Sure, the recovery would probably take an extremely long time, but at least he should make it out okay. Mostly.

Peter’s eyes were drawn to Tony’s right leg. Just below the knee, there was a visible stump. Just like JARVIS had said, the leg had been cut off. 

Peter felt his stomach churn at the thought. He gulped to prevent himself from throw up. He couldn’t even imagine what losing a limb would be like. There was so much you needed your legs for. What would he do without one?

Peter could feel himself starting to panic. He was getting shakier by the second – which was bad when you’re relying on a crutch – and it was getting harder to breath again. He knew everything was going to change now. Absolutely everything. He didn’t want that. He didn’t want change. He wanted to go back in time to before all this Elemental mess and just stop it from happening. He wanted to stop his dad from going out there. He wanted to stop himself from calling him and being the reason for….

No longer able to stand there looking at the stump, Peter turned and walked away. 

He was about to enter the elevator when he heard a loud psst from behind him. He spun around to see Clint beckoning him with his hand.

Peter walked over to see the agent. “Hey.” He tried to make himself sound much calmer than he actually was. He hoped Clint couldn’t see how shaken he was. But, this was a trained spy and assassin, so that was probably not the case.

“Hey, kid. I was wondering how long it would be before you showed up.”

Peter ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah. I just… I had to work myself up to it.”

Clint nodded. “I understand that.” He paused. “Did you see Rhodey? He came up here with your mom.”

“Yeah, yeah. I met him. He seemed cool.”

“He is. And he’s glad you’re here. When he came over to talk to me, you were basically the only thing he talked about. He wanted to know all about you. Seems he hadn’t even been informed that you were here.”

Peter scrunched up his face. “Really? How could he have missed it? I literally have stalkers. My name and face are everywhere.”

Clint shrugged. “I think he was on some super-secret mission. He probably didn’t have contact with any of that.”

“Oh. Makes sense.” Peter looked the archer up and down. “How are you doing?”

“I’ve been better. Won’t be shooting for a little while, but nothing permanent.”

“Got you.”

There was a long awkward pause between the two of them. Peter looked around the room, trying to find something to keep his attention off the thoughts in his head. It didn’t work.

Clint cleared his throat. “They said Tony should recover fully, by the way. He’ll have phantom pains, and he’ll have to completely relearn how to walk with a prosthetic leg. And he’ll be weak for a while. But, knowing your dad, I’m sure he’ll be up and doing things quicker than expected. Apparently, he was pretty lucky.”

Peter felt his insides clinch. All he could think about was how all this was because of him. Yeah, he remembered Rhodey saying not to blame himself. It made sense. It might have happened even if they weren’t talking to each other. But he wouldn’t know for sure. He never would. That meant it could be his fault. Therefore, he would continue to blame himself.

“I can’t help noticing you don’t seem to be in the best of condition yourself,” Clint said, snapping Peter out of his thoughts.

“Oh, yeah. I did something stupid. Then I got emotional and did more stupid. Or, that’s what I’m guessing, at least. My brain got jostled around, and I blacked out. I can’t remember, really.”

Clint raised his eyebrows. “Hold up. Were you fighting them too?”

Peter nodded.

“Might as well bring the whole team in here at this rate. None of us are gonna be able to do anything.”

“Seems that way.”

“You know how SHIELD’s gonna fix everything?”

Peter shrugged. “How would I know?”

“Well, you have been closer to them than the rest of us. And you actually understand all their science mumbo jumbo. I just walk out of the room when Banner is talking about it. I don’t get it.”

“Oh. Yeah. Fury asked me to help them, but I didn’t. They knew I wouldn’t be helpful in my current state. Not that I’d be helpful even if I could think straight.”

Clint narrowed his eyes. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.” Peter shuffled awkwardly on his one foot.

“Nah ah. I got all day. Please. Take a seat. Enlighten me.” The archer gestured to the seat beside his bed.

Peter huffed but sat as he was instructed to do. “I just don’t see how I can help.”

“You’re literally a genius. For crying out loud, you’ve outdone aliens. I’m pretty sure you can help with this too.”

“Yeah, but I’d spent my whole life with them. It wasn’t like it was hard to step up and do it. I mean, it was. But it was completely different. Besides, I’m clearly not capable of doing anything or SHIELD would be using me more than they are. They know I can’t do anything.”

“Then why are they using you at all?”

“I don’t know. They’re too desperate, I guess.”

Clint narrowed his eyes skeptically. “So, in their most desperate times, they turn to you? That doesn’t sound like they find you incompetent.”

“But I’m just a kid to them.”

“Again. Aliens.”

“That’s not the same.”

“Are the Elementals human?”

“No.”

“Then it’s the same.”

“How is that the same?”

“Alien. Supernatual. Same thing, just different.”

“That’s horrible logic.”

“See. You’re smarter than me.”

“How does that make any sense?”

“I don’t know. You’re the super genius. You tell me.”

“This is a stupid conversation.”

“Well, it is being held by a guy pumped full of morphine and a boy with a concussion.”

“Valid point.”

Taking a deep breath, Clint laid his head back onto his pillow. “Joking aside. I get that you feel like you’re not worthy on the same level. Believe me, I do. I feel it all the time. I mean, what is a guy with a bow and arrow supposed to do about half the stuff we handle. But that’s what makes SHIELD and this team so great. Everyone has their own perspective on life, and we can all come together and find answers through that. Each of us has something we’re best at. When the time comes, we each step up and do our part to fix the problem. Yeah, you might be the youngest and in many ways the least experienced. You might not always know what to do. You might screw up and have to ask for help. But we all do. And we always help each other out. We all shared the load, because none of us can do everything. Does that make sense?”

Peter looked at Clint, letting his words sink it. He never would have guessed that the archer ever felt incompetent of being on the team. He was so amazing. It made him feel better that someone like Clint would doubt themselves in the same way.

His points seemed valid as well. Everyone had different experiences. Everyone had different abilities. And now that he thought about it, they asked each other for help all the time. They worked together, not as individuals. They were only at their best when they were unified. Maybe that was why everyone was getting hurt. They weren’t together.

Peter nodded his head. He understood. He still blamed himself for everything and he would continue to do so, but he realized now that that didn’t mean he should stop. He should learn from this and apply it. Even if he wasn’t very helpful with the scientists, he should at least try.

“Good,” Clint replied.

They fell into silence for a while. This silence wasn’t awkward, thank goodness. 

A nurse came to monitor Clint. She also brought him a bit of food. Peter stayed with him as he ate it. Once he had devoured his food, Peter spoke up.

“So, what are you gonna do now that you’re out of action?”

“Well, I tried to get SHIELD to let me go home, but they said that wasn’t happening. They still want me nearby. Give them input or something.”

“Got you. That sucks.”

“Yeah. Especially since I haven’t seen Laura and the kids in so long.” Clint stared blankly at the wall in front of him. He was clearly lost in his head.

Peter felt sorry for him. He was sure that would be lonely, not being allowed to see his family all the time. He understood why they didn’t live in the tower. Clint had explained how it protected them. But it still made things complicated.

“Maybe they could come to New York,” Peter suggested. “Maybe not to the tower, but you could go see them once you’re allowed to get out of bed.”

Clint shook his head. “I’ve asked SHIELD about that too. They won’t do it. There’s too much attention around us, and SHEILD doesn’t have time to think of a cover for them.”

“Well,” Peter said slowly, “just don’t do it through SHEILD then.”

Clint opened his mouth in mock shock. “Well, aren’t you a little rebel today.” He paused. “I’ll tell you what. If you can find someone willing to put up with my two rascals staying with them for a bit, go for it.”

“Are you challenging me?” Peter asked.

Clint smirked. “If I do, will you do it?”

“Duh.”

“Then, yes. I challenge you to find a way for my family to stay on the down-low in New York.”


	21. Chapter 21: Plans and Prattle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little lighter tone for this one. Get some good Ned and Peter time, and some MJ and Peter time as well.
> 
> Is Peter's plan for the Barton family good and thorough? Nope. But, you know, sometimes it's the stupid plans that work. And at the moment, he really just has to have something to do mentally to keep his mind off everything else. If that means concocting not-quite-thought-out plans that involve his overexcited and dramatic best friend, by all means he will do so.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

The phone rang three times before Ned picked up.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay? I saw you get beaten the crap out of! It looked bad. Like really, really bad. Like, dude, I thought I was about to watch you die on my TV screen. How are you even alive?”

“Ned. Chill. I’m not dead. Just breathe.”

“Breathe? BREATHE? Do you have any idea how horrible it feels to watch someone you care about get absolutely obliterated?”

“Yeah. Actually, I do. I’ve seen it quite a bit.”

“Oh. Yeah. Good point…. You still should have gotten some help. Was SHEILD not guiding you or anything? Cause it didn’t look like it. And if not, you should have definitely called me. Your guy in the chair. Or at least someone.”

“Technically, I did call someone,” Peter mumbled.

“Oh yeah? Who? Cause I’m gonna kick their butt for not helping you very much!”

“My dad.”

Dead silence.

Peter could practically hear gears churning in Ned’s head. He felt sort of bad because he knew there was no good way to respond to that. He knew Ned would know by now what had happened. And Ned knew him well enough to know Peter blamed himself. So, what exactly was he supposed to say?

Peter decided to help him out. “He’s gonna be okay. At least that’s what everyone says. He’s asleep right now.”

“Oh. Got you…. I’m so sorry. That must be hard.”

“Thanks. And it’s not your fault.”

Ned paused. “It’s not yours either, you know.”

They fell into a brief silence, both in their own thoughts. Peter half expected Emma to barge into Ned’s room and start talking to him. Then, it hit him. He had probably scared her off. He wasn’t really nice to her when she had called. He wasn’t even sure if anyone else knew she had called him. Guess there was only one way to find out.

“So, did Emma tell you she called me?”

“She did what? When? How? She doesn’t even have a phone. I swear, she’s more trouble than you. And that’s saying something.”

“She used your mom’s. And I’m taking that as a no.” Peter hesitated. “Would you tell her I’m sorry I yelled at her?”

There was a pause before Ned’s tone changed to that of a protective brother. “You yelled at my baby sister?”

Peter slid a hand over his face. “I know, I know. I’m so sorry. I just wasn’t in a good place mentally. But I want her to know I didn’t mean it. That she can talk to me whenever.”

“I swear you like her more than me.”

“Ned.”

“Okay, I’ll tell her. But don’t yell at her again. I know I don’t act like I care, but I do.”

“I know.”

There was a moment of silence before Ned transitioned to a new topic. “Speaking of girls….” He began slowly.

“Oh yeah,” Peter interjected. “My bad. I wanted to tell you, but so many things happened afterword it slipped my mind. And I’m guessing Emma already told you by now.”

“Told me what?” Ned questioned.

“That MJ and I are dating?...”

“You WHAT! Dude! You can’t not tell me something like this! There’s gotta be a law against it! Unbelievable! When did this happen?”

“When we were babysitting your sister together. Right before the Elemental attack.”

“Ohhhh, that’s where Emma went?”

“You didn’t even know where she was?” And they thought he was bad about leaving her.

“Look. I was busy helping my grandma. Nobody keeps me informed on anything.”

Peter crunched his face in confusion. “Why didn’t you take Emma with you to your grandma’s?”

“One time, she was way too excited, and she broke my grandma’s favorite, super expensive vase. Grandma got really mad. She told Mom that Emma’s not going back until she can sit still for more than a few seconds.”

Peter nodded to himself. “Makes sense. So, what were you gonna say about MJ if it wasn’t that we are together?”

“Oh, yeah. You’ll have to tell me all about that, by the way. But you should really call her or something. She actually saw the news for once, which is insane. But if you’re together and she was with you right before you left to fight, that would make sense. Anyway, she’s super worried and keeps asking me if I know anything. She’s too stubborn to call you herself though. And I was going to wait a little longer cause I figured you had enough on your plate.”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks…. I guess I should probably call her.”

“Please. If I get one more text from her, I’m going to go insane.”

Peter chuckled. “Well, before I do that, I’ve got a question. It’s actually the reason I called.”

“Oh really?” Ned’s entire tone changed. He was clearly excited. “What is it? Please tell me it’s superhero related. Oh my gosh! Can I help with something Avengers?”

Peter paused in thought. “Yeah, actually for once….”

Peter had to stifle a laugh as he heard Ned fall out of his chair and make incoherent babbling noises. “OH MY GOSH! WHAT? The Avengers need ME?”

“Wellllll, not exactly. It wouldn’t be everyone. Just Clint.”

“Bro, I don’t care! I would rush over there literally to just take out the garbage for any of them.”

Peter shook his head. His friend was insane. “It’s a little bit bigger than that.”

“Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh! Tell me! Tell me! I’ll do it!”

“Well, this is sort of the kind of thing you’ll have to ask your family about. It’s like, a big deal. It’s also super secret. No one can know.”

Ned had gotten off the floor and was now pacing around his room. “Oh my gosh this is gotta be huge! This is amazing! Is it some top-secret mission or something? Do we need to hide a fugitive? Wait, our house is still sort of being watched cause of all the attention you’ve brought. And we’re having a family reunion thing. Not sure why my mom thought this would be a good time, but whatever. Will that be a problem?”

Peter ran his hand through his hair. “Well…. hopefully not. If we play it right, it could actually help. Cause they could just pretend to be part of your family, and then they’d be ignored pretty quickly.”

“Okay. Who is this? And what does Hawkeye need?”

Peter took a deep breath. Knowing his luck, he would probably regret this in the long run. But, screw it. It was worth a shot. And honestly, he couldn’t see how things could get much worse for him, so why care. 

“Would you be willing to let his family stay with you? He can’t go to them since he has to stay in New York. But he really wants to see them, and we sort of have this challenge thing to see if I can get them here and….”

“Hold up! Stop! Everything! Hawkeye has a family? Since when?”

“Oh, for ages. He just keeps them a secret. SHIELD helps him with it. It’s for their protection and everything. That’s why they won’t stay at a hotel. It’ll risk blowing their alias name and stuff. Or something. I’m not entirely sure. I honestly zoned out as he was explaining it all.”

“Am I even supposed to know any of this?”

Peter shrugged. “Too late now. Besides, I doubt anyone’s would think to ask you of all people if there were any speculations on the matter.”

There was a long bit of silence. “And he wants them to stay with us?”

“Well, I do. I was thinking. Sure, they would be watched with you for a little while, but hopefully the press would leave them alone after they saw they had no connection to me. And then they can sneak out and meet Clint somewhere else privately. Plus, if they ever come back, they would already have an alibi and wouldn’t have to come up with a plan from scratch like this. But only if your parents are cool with all of that.”

“Hold up.”

Peter heard Ned shuffling around on the other end of the line. He heard talking in the background, but nothing was distinguishable. Then, Ned was back. “How many of them are there?”

“Two kids and his wife.”

Ned left again. After a few moments, he was back. “Dude… THEY SAID YES! I get to meet Hawkeye’s secret family! This is literally the best thing that’s ever happened to me!”

“I’m gonna try to not take that personally.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Okay. Well, we better go get everything ready, right? Like, this is gonna be soon?”

“Yeah. As soon as possible. Hopefully in a few weeks.”

“ASAP. Got it. I’m so excited. Like, you have no idea.”

“I’m pretty sure I do.”

“Okay. Bye. Have fun. Glad you’re not dead. Call your girlfriend. I’m literally so happy right now! I can’t wait!”

Peter laughed at his friend. He truly was insane. He was still the best friend in the world though. “Yeah. Don’t forget to breath there. And have fun.”

“Oh, you know I will. This is amazing. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Peter hung up, shaking his head at his friend’s antics. Was this a smart idea? Probably not. But at least it would make Clint and Ned happy. If they were happy, he’d be happy. It would be worth it in the end.

Peter looked down at his phone. He guessed he should call MJ now. That was such a strange thought. Usually, they didn’t talk on the phone. A few texts here and there talking about hanging out or random things, but they never really talked on the phone. But he guessed that was one of the things that was actually going to change now that they were dating. Not that that was a bad change. He definitely wouldn’t mind. It was just an adjustment, having to think of keeping someone informed that you weren’t dead.

Peter clicked the number on her contact and placed the ringing phone to his ear. Bouncing his leg anxiously, he waited for her to pick up. Why was he nervous over this? This was stupid. It was just MJ.

After what felt like an eternity, the girl picked up. “Hey, loser.” She was trying to sound unfazed, but she was unsuccessful.

“Hey, MJ. How are you doing?”

“I’m good…. How are you?”

“Not dead.”

“You don’t say? What a bummer. I thought I was talking to a zombie.”

Peter laughed. “What a true shame.”

“So… you stopped the… Elementals?”

“Yeah. Apparently. If you saw the news, you know more than me. I blacked out.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I only have a few flashes of memory from me attacking them.”

“Oh.” She paused. “That’s probably for the best.”

Peter groaned. “How stupid did I look?”

“No more than usual. A little angrier though. Like a violent emo teen in spandex.”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” She paused awkwardly. “But like, you got actual help this time, right? Like, you didn’t just crash into someone’s house and ask them to fix you up?”

“Oh, no. That’s an honor I only bestow upon you.”

“Wow. I feel so honored…. But like, if you do need anything, I could like try and help. Or something.”

Peter smiled. This was so sweet of her. This was the side of MJ that rarely came out. The truly emotional side. Well, emotional for her. He felt honored that she felt comfortable enough to show it to him. “Thanks. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem.”

Peter wracked his brain for something else to say. He didn’t want to stop talking to her, but it was awkward being on the phone. Finally, he just gave in and said the most basic thing he could think of. 

“What are you doing?”

“Talking into my phone,” she replied bluntly.

“Well, yeah, but like, what were you doing before.”

“Reading.”

Peter out his hand to his chest, even though she couldn’t see it. “Finishing the book without me? How dare you.”

“Oh no. This is a completely different book.”

Peter rolled his eyes as a smirk crawled onto his lips. “Of course it is. Is it any good?”

“Why do you keep thinking I would be reading something that isn’t good?”

“Well, I don’t know what’s good or not.”

“Clearly.”

“Is it like a fun book or a hard book?”

“I think it’s fun.”

Peter leaned back onto his bed. For the first time in a while, he felt himself starting to relax. “Do you ever read like Harry Potter or comic books or stuff like that?”

“And conform to society? No.”

“You should. Just one time. I wanna see what you think about it. I feel like you’d be one of those people with super strong opinions on everything. Like a super hardcore fan.”

“No.”

“Oh, come on. I’m sure it would be fun. Besides, I’m listening to you read one of yours.”

“So you’re gonna read to me now?”

“I mean, no.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“You could read it to me though.”

“You’re just too lazy to read it yourself, aren’t you?”

Peter huffed. “No. I’d read it. I do like to read, for your information. Back when I first got to the tower, it was one of the only things I did. I’m just really bad at reading aloud. Plus, I don’t have time.”

“Yeah ha. Sure. Whatever you say.”

The two fell into a lighthearted argument about books. Was it better to have fun reading or read stuff that provoked thought? Books with pictures, or blank books? Fiction or historical. Peter honestly didn’t know what she was talking about half the time. He mostly read things to learn from them. He loved reading, but it was not the thought provoking, satire kind that MJ liked. But he liked hearing her passion over all the random stories she mentioned, so he just kept provoking her into talking more.

And listening to her babble made him temporarily forget everything else transpiring in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming next chapter: Peter finally gets to talk to Tony.
> 
> See you Thursday!


	22. Chapter 22: He's Awake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnnnd Tony is awake. Gets to have a serious talk with Peter... and then a less serious one starring Clint. All good things, all good things.
> 
> This is a really long chapter, lol. I just kept adding to it. I really like it though.
> 
> Enjoy!

Peter stepped out of the elevator into the med bay. He immediately started walking towards Clint’s bed. For once, it was hidden behind a sheet. That was odd. Usually, they didn’t bother with that since no one else was really here. 

As Peter walked, he heard a horse, sarcastic voice from his right.

“Wow, kid. I feel so honored you’ve come to see me.”

Peter whipped around. After four days, Tony was finally awake. 

Peter stood in shock, taking in the sight of his father. He honestly hadn’t been expecting him to be awake this early after everything he’d heard from the doctors and nurses. And yet there he was, upright and talking.

Peter’s first instinct was to run to him. He wanted to. He really did. But he was rooted in place by a feeling of undeserving and guilt. Surely, Tony would be mad at him.

He shuffled awkwardly, trying to think of something to say. Should he apologize first? Or leave that for later? Or should he just not speak at all and let his dad say whatever needed he wanted first?

Peter watched as Tony extended his arms. He lifted his eyes to meet his dad’s. 

In that second, Peter saw nothing but love. Every wall Peter had built shattered. He ran, throwing himself into his father’s arms. Well, it was really a fast, slight hobble. And it was a gentle sitting down on the bed followed by awkwardly trying not to hurt the man with his embrace. But the energy was still the same.

They stayed like that for a while, finding comfort with one another. Peter didn’t want to let go because he feared what would happen when the moment passed. Was all this love just temporary? Once the initial joy of seeing his son faded, would Tony be mad? Or did he even remember what had happened right before the incident? Peter’s stomach churned at the thought that he might have to explain to his father that he was largely the reason he was in this predicament. He had accepted after many talks with Clint that he hadn’t directly hurt Tony, but he still believed it was partially his fault. He still blamed himself.

When he was finally forces to pull away, he gulped and opened his mouth to speak. He was abruptly cut off.

“If you’re about to say you’re sorry, don’t you even dare,” Tony said.

Peter opened his mouth to protest, but he was cut off once again.

“You shouldn’t blame yourself.”

Peter let those words sink in. Tony hadn’t said that it wasn’t his fault. He had said not to blame himself. Two entirely separate meanings. Peter appreciated what Tony was saying much more than what everyone else had been telling him. Coming from the man himself had much more meaning.

“If either of us should be apologizing, it should be me. I should have made sure you had the full attention and assistance you needed.” Tony gestured to Peter’s knee and then his head. “I know you got hurt too. And that’s on me….”

“That’s not your fault,” Peter interjected. “I shouldn’t have acted on my emotions. I should have listened to what you and everyone else told me and just waited.”

“And I should have gotten out of the blast zone and connected you with SHIELD.”

Peter fiddled with his hands in his lap. “I guess we both messed up, huh.”

“Yeah. And we’re pretty good at blaming ourselves too.”

“Oh, the best. We should get medals.”

“I’ll have Happy make us some.”

Peter grinned. “Can they be that really nasty chocolate kind so I can eat them?”

“Sure thing, kiddo.” Tony reached up and lazily ruffled his kid’s hair.

The conversation came to an awkward halt. Peter had never thought that Tony would blame himself for his injuries the same way he had blamed himself for his dad’s. He supposed it made sense. Great minds think alike. Looks like they’d have to work on that together. If he ever had a shot at forgiving himself, it would be with his father’s help.

Peter rose from the bed and sat in the chair beside it, giving his dad more room. “So, how are you feeling?”

“Not much, to be honest. Narcotics. Amazing things.”

Peter laughed. “Must be nice.” With his enhanced metabolism, medicine didn’t help him much. Bruce had tried to make him a special, extra-strong medication. It hadn’t done much good though. Thankfully, he’d learned to block it out as much as possible. 

“Did they say how much longer you’ll be in here?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Longer than I would like. I think I heard that I’d be out of the med bay and in my own room in a few weeks. Goodness knows how long I’ll be on bedrest though.”

Peter felt the weight returning to his chest. He couldn’t imagine. He could barely wait to heal with his enhanced metabolism. To have such a slow recovery rate and to have an injury so severe that you couldn’t just bounce back from it. That would be torture. Especially with the knowledge of the unfolding chaos around the globe.

Tony cleared his throat. “Pepper said Rhodey’s in town. Helping SHEILD or something. I’m guessing you met him?”

Peter nodded. “Yeah. He seems pretty cool.”

A smile spread across Tony’s face. “Oh yeah. He’s great. I hope he gets to stick around after all this Elemental mess is cleared up. I’d love for you two to get to know each other. We three could have lots of fun.”

“I’m guessing you mean ‘fun’ as in driving Mom insane?”

“Oh, definitely. That’s the best thing to do.”

Peter narrowed his eyes at a realization. He looked around the room just to double check. “Where is Mom?” he asked. “She’s been up here all the time.”

“Oh, she was here when I woke up,” Tony replied. “I sent her to bed.”

Peter raised an eyebrow. “You. Sent her. To bed? That’s ironic.”

“Oh, ha ha. I do actually know the importance of sleep, thank you very much. I just don’t get it. But Pepper needed it. I could tell. And the nurse said I needed it too.”

Peter quickly pushed himself up out of his chair. “I’m sorry. I guess I should let you….”

“I just slept for four days. I’m not tired at the moment.”

“Maybe not, but if the nurse said….”

“Since when have you listened to medical professionals?”

Peter closed his mouth. The man had a point.

Tony gestured back to the chair. “Sit down, kid. I want to hear how you’ve been. I hated being away for so long. Fill me in. What have you been up to? And if you bring up those stupid giants, I will leave.”

Peter raised an eyebrow in amusement. “And how are you going to do that?”

Tony stuck his chin in the air. “No idea. But I’ll do it.”

Peter rolled his eyes, but he sat in the chair as instructed. He said the first thing that came to his mind that wouldn’t bring down the mood. “Well, I’ve been hanging out with Ned and his little sister a lot.”

“That’s good. Friends are good.”

“Yeah. They are. And Emma’s super sweet. She sneaks into Ned’s room or snatches her mom’s phone to talk to me.”

“Ah. Raising rebels. I’m so proud of you.”

Peter chuckled. “Yeah. I’ve even brought them into the realm of fame.”

“And how did you manage this?”

“I was sort of babysitting Emma when SHIELD landed a jet outside their house to pick me up.”

“Well that’s what you get for sitting on babies.”

Peter groaned. “Why does everyone keep using that joke? It’s not funny.”

“I thought it was hilarious,” Tony said smugly. “Now. Continue. Who else have you made famous with your status? I must know you’re using the Stark fame properly.”

“No one, really. I mean, I’ve almost got caught with MJ a few times, but I’ve tried to be more careful with her.”

Tony smirked, and Peter knew he was in for trouble now. “So. You’re hanging out with MJ now, are you? Just you and her? Talking on the phone a lot too, I bet.”

Peter turned his head to the side, trying to play it cool but knowing he was failing. He could feel the heat rushing to his face. “Yes, actually. We talked last night.”

“Well, what about? Please, don’t spare any details.”

“None of your business.”

“Oh! Do I need to put a parent lock on that phone of yours? Initiate the Training Wheels Program: Puberty addition?”

Peter made a gagging noise. “Please no. Shut up.”

“I just want to stay involved in my son’s relationships. Make sure he’s being safe. That’s all,” Tony said in mock concern.

“Ah ha. Yeah. No need to worry about that. SHIELD is doing a great job at ruining our hangouts.”

“Hangouts? Is that what kids are calling dates these days?”

Peter huffed as he dropped his head backwards onto the chair back. “No. They’re just hangouts.” Peter remembered when he had talked to MJ about going on a date. She’d said she wanted to see him punch paparazzi. He snickered to himself.

“Doesn’t sound like it,” Tony said.

“Well, I’ll tell you what. Once I can actually take her on a date, I’ll let you be so involved that you get sent the bill.”

Peter could physically feel Tony’s smirk boring into him. “So you are going to go on a date with her now?”

Peter sighed, giving up. He guessed now was as good a time as ever. He sat up and looked at his father. “Yes. That is typically what you do with a girlfriend, is it not?”

Tony’s face turned into a pure expression of joy. “So, you asked her out?”

“Yup.”

“And now you have a girlfriend?”

“Yup.”

“And when did this happen?”

“Last week.”

“A whole week ago?”

“Yup.”

“And I’m only hearing of this now?”

“You were out of the country and then you were asleep. How are you supposed to know?”

“A phone call isn’t the hardest thing in the world, believe it or not,” Tony said in exasperation. “You know, it would have been greatly appreciated. By any of us, really.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Peter deadpanned.

Tony looked at his son with fake, overly-fondness. “You grew up so fast,” he said. Then, he smirked and turned his head. “Hey, Legolas!” he yelled.

There was a thud and the sound of a lot of things being moved around. Clearly, Clint had been startled awake quite violently. “What?” he replied.

“Did you know Peter has a girlfriend now?”

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Peter mumbled, burying his face into the armrest.

“What? Why didn’t he tell me this?” Clint replied.

“That’s what I said!” Tony yelled back.

“When did this happen?”

“Last week!”

“A whole week ago? And he hasn’t brought it up?”

“That’s what I said!”

“He’s had days to tell me, and he hasn’t? I feel so betrayed!”

Tony turned to Peter. “You hear that? You hurt Barton’s feelings.”

“Daggon right, you did!” Clint yelled from his section of the room.

“This is ridiculous,” Peter mumbled to himself. 

He had known everyone was going to blow this out of proportion way more than they should, but this was over the top. Even for them. Although, to be fair, they were both stuck in the med bay. And they were both pumped with narcotics. And they were in for a lot of sitting around. The did need some form of entertainment.

“You got any pictures of you two together?” Clint asked.

“No. And I wouldn’t show you if I did.”

Tony snapped his fingers. Peter looked up to see the man way too excited for his son’s personal comfort. “Barton! Get over here! I have a great idea!”

“One sec!”

Peter heard a bunch of things being shoved out of the way. There was also some grunting and clacking. Then, Clint was coming across the room very slowly with his crutches.

Peter rushed up to help the archer. “Are you even supposed to be walking around?” he asked.

“To use the bathroom,” Clint replied. “He neared the other chair by Tony’s bed, and Peter helped him into it. 

Clint turned to Tony, a grin crossing his face. “So, what’s this great idea?”

Peter braced himself. He had no idea what for, but he was sure it would be very embarrassing. He sat down in his chair, hoping he could curl up into it like a turtle if need be.

Tony lifted his head towards the screen above the bed. “Hey, JARVIS. Call MJ from Peter’s phone. But put it on the big screen. And make it the kind where we can see her face.”

Peter’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “What are you doing?” He stood up to try and stop it – goodness knows how – but it was too late. He heard a ringing.

“Sup, loser,” MJ said as she connected. When she looked at her own screen, she froze. She blinked a few times in confusion, but she didn’t say anything else.

“Hello, MJ,” Tony began. He was talking way too enthusiastically. It was unsettling on way too many levels. “I’m Tony Stark, and this here is Legolas.” He gestured to Clint. “And we’ve heard that you are in a relationship with our dear little Peter, and we just wanted to say hi.”

MJ raised her eyebrows. “Oh. Okay then. That’s cool.” She turned her attention to Peter, who had indeed curled himself into the chair, refusing to look at the screen. “A little heads up would have been nice.”

“You see,” Clint began, “We wanted to see you as soon as we heard, because apparently we’ve been kept in the dark about this longer that we would like. And none of us have actually seen you accept Steve and Nat….”

“And Pepper,” MJ added.

Tony furrowed his brow. “Pepper? Like, my Pepper?”

“Unless there’s another Pepper that Peter calls Mom, yeah, your Pepper.”

“When was this?” Tony asked.

“Back when Ned and I were supposed to meet all of you but you all got sent to fight. Except Peter. But then he got sent to fight too with Raymond.”

“Who’s Raymond?” Clint asked.

“The guy who came through the window to pick up Peter and take him to fight.”

“Wow, Pete. You have all kinds of relationships we don’t know about,” Tony said, turning to his son. “I want to meet Raymond. Clearly, he’s not doing his job very well if you were by yourself last time.”

An awkward silence filled the room. 

Peter hung his head. He didn’t know what to say to that. He felt sort of mad that Tony insulted the memory the agent like he did. Raymond had done great at his job. It was his personal shortcomings that caused the man’s death. But how could they know that? They hadn’t even known the man existed, so how could they know about his death?

“Oh,” Clint said, as understanding hit him.

Everyone turned as the elevator doors slid open. They watched as a nurse walk into the room. When she saw the scene before her, she stopped in her tracks, slightly taken aback. She quickly recovered from the shock and went into command mode.

“Excuse me. Both of you are supposed to be resting. Barton. Let’s get you back into your bed. No. Don’t even open that mouth. You need to keep yourself elevated. And Mister Stark. For crying out loud, I told you to get some sleep. And Peter. Get up. I don’t care that you aren’t built the same as a normal child. You look like you’re about to break your back sitting in that chair like that. And with that messed up everything? And you, little miss on the screen. I’m sure you’re very sweet, but I’m going to ask you to leave these men be for the moment. It’s hard enough getting them to do what I ask without outside distractions.”

Everyone immediately acted instructed. The nurse helped a begrudging Clint back to his spot. MJ bid them farewell and hung up. Peter got out of his chair. He turned to his father. 

The man smiled up at him. He extended his arms once again, and Peter accepted the hug. Tony whispered in his ear. “Make sure your Mom’s okay for me. Actually sleeping. Gets some food. You know the drill.”

Peter pulled back. He nodded. “I will.”

Tony pointed at his son. “You do the same for yourself too.”

Peter chuckled and shrugged. “Maybe.”

Tony leaned his head back onto his pillow. “Go now. Leave me to my completely unnecessary sleep.”

“Bye, Dad. I’m glad you’re awake.”

“Me too.”

With that, Peter ambled towards the elevator.


	23. Chapter 23: Family in the Park

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We get to meet Clint's family! Yay! Fluff!..... Then not.... What can I say. I live for emotional rollercoaster rides.
> 
> I honestly don't know much about his canon family personality wise. I just sorta made Connor an emo teen and Lila a typical, active girl.
> 
> Peter really just wants everything to be okay. He really hasn't coped with the reality of his family issue yet, and so he'd running from his problems by going with Clint. But, those problems manage to show up anyway. Leave it to little girls to rock his world.
> 
> Anyway. Hope you like it!

“I feel ridiculous,” Clint mumbled as he made his way down the sidewalk with Peter.

“Well, you don’t look like Hawkeye, so that’s a plus,” Peter replied.

“Yeah. Cause I look like a hobo.”

“A very attractive and nice hobo.”

“If I wouldn’t fall on my face, I would smack you with this crutch.”

The two heroes were finally on their way to see the Barton family. They had arrived in New York about a week prior, but they hadn’t met up yet. Since the Bartons were staying with the periodically watched Leeds, this was the best course of action. The delayed met-up allowed the press to see the family, see they weren’t doing anything interesting, and deem them unworthy of attention. 

Peter wasn’t really sure how they’d pulled it off. It was such a stupid plan. And yet, it worked. Why did it always work that way? Masterfully constructed plans crumbled, but stupid things barely thrown together somehow held fast.

Peter made sure he and Clint dressed in a way that would disguise them but not draw attention. This meant regular civilian clothes. This wasn’t as bad for him since he was used to going to school and seeing his friends like this. But Clint hadn’t been out of agent or avengers wear in a very long time. And that was before sitting around in hospital clothes. Naturally, he had to complain about wearing the normal, civilian clothes now.

They had slipped out of the tower at a slower time of day. They made sure as few people saw them as possible. Not that the Avengers didn’t try to avoid as many Stark Industry people as possible on a normal basis, but trying to go under the radar made it even more crucial.

Peter began to bounce around vivaciously as they approached the secluded park everyone was meeting at. It wouldn’t seem any out of the ordinary for the family to go to a park. And even if people did see them with Cint there, they could just play it off as a chance interaction.

It felt great finally getting outside. Being in the fresh air instead of the cramped tower. Well, it wasn’t really cramped. Spatially, it was huge. But it felt cramped. It was suffocating Peter, knowing that he should be out doing something but also knowing he couldn’t. Knowing that if he did things would go wrong. Knowing he'd already done things horribly wrong that would change his and other's lives forever.... and just having to sit around thinking that was making him worse.

He was so glad he was getting out.

The duo had made it towards the middle of the park when a blur rushed towards them.

“Daddy!” a little girl, probably about nine years old, rushed towards them.

“Lila Elizabeth Barton!” a woman yelled from a park bench. “Your father is on crutches! Be careful!”

Lila looked heartbroken as she stopped in her tracks. She crossed her arms, curling in upon herself.

“Oh, come here, sweetheart,” Clint said with a smile. He positioned the crutches under his armpits and extended his arms as much as he could.

The girl beamed at him and rushed forward. Stopping just before she hit him and knocked him over, she gently(ish) wrapped her arms around his torso. After a few moments, she released her grip. 

Slowly, the two made their way towards the awaiting mother. Clint stopped in front of his wife. “Hey, you,” he said softly before leaning in for a kiss.

Peter turned away to give them privacy. He felt almost like he shouldn’t be there. Like this was a moment just for the family. He fixed his gaze on the girl, who was staring at him with a tilted head. He waved to her, but she just kept staring.

Clint cleared his throat, and Peter looked back at him. “Peter, I’d like you to officially meet my wife, Laura.” He nodded his head towards her.

“Nice to meet you,” Laura said. “I’ve heard a whole lot about you.”

“You too, Misses Barton.”

Clint continued his introductions. “And this little rascal is Lila.” He rested his hand on her head. “And Connor should be somewhere around here. Conner!”

A boy dropped down from the tree above them. He looked to be three or four years younger than Peter. “Hey,” he said. He walked over to his dad as he pulled out an earbud. Peter could hear loud metal music playing from it. Clint gave him an awkward pat on the back, but Connor looked pretty over the whole situation.

“Guys, this is Peter, Stark’s kid.” Clint gestured to Peter.

Peter smiled awkwardly and waved. Up until now, he had been thrilled to meet everyone, but now that they were all here, he had no idea what to do.

“Why don’t we all go sit down?” Laura suggested.

“That sounds great,” Clint replied. “I’ve been needing to sit down since I was forced to basically sprint on crutches to keep up with this kid.” He sent a playful glare towards Peter.

Peter chuckled. “Hey. I went pretty slow for me. You should be happy I didn’t run…. Or try to swing you.”

The group made their way towards a park bench. Laura walked beside her husband, making sure he wasn’t going to fall. 

She glanced over her shoulder at Peter. “You’re the one who knew the Leeds family, right? And who got them to let us stay with them?”

“Yeah, yeah. That’s me,” Peter replied. He shuffled forward to helped Laura get Clint onto the bench.

“Thank you very much, Peter,” Laura said as she sat beside her husband. 

The archer wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Lila and Conner sat on the ground by their feet, and Peter stood awkwardly across the path.

“I assume Peter’s plan to avoid too much attention on your end worked out well,” Clint stated more than asked. “I mean, we aren’t being swarmed, and I haven’t gotten a call from Fury cursing me out for bringing you here.”

Laura chuckled. “Well, I think it’s worked.” She looked between the two heroes. “You know, it’s crazy the popularity mess you guys deal with. Every once and a while, the Leeds will point out someone keeping an eye on them. Never anything too intrusive. I think by now they’ve realized nothing exciting is going to happen with them anymore. But I never would have even thought someone might be watched for simply being accidentally connected to the team. I can’t imagine how bad it is for you guys.”

“And that’s why we live on a farm in the middle of nowhere,” Clint said.

“And I’ll have a new appreciation for our outlying home and SHEILD’s protection once we’re back.”

The couple fell into a long conversation. Connor mainly played on his phone. From the looks of him, he seemed to be in one of those rebel phases. He didn’t want to have anything to do with his parents. Lila kept going between butting into the conversation, loving on her dad, and staring at Peter. It made him uncomfortable. He wished she would just say something.

After about an hour, there was a moment of silence. Finally, Lila addressed Peter. “Can you show me how to do a backflip?”

Well, that came out of nowhere. He guessed he was kind of known for that kind of thing, but still.

“Lila Barton, this is not the time,” Laura hissed. She looked up at Peter. “I’m sorry. Emma’s been telling her all about how you’ve been teaching her gymnastics moves, and now she wants to learn too.”

“Ohhh, got you.” That made a lot more sense. 

“Hold up,” Clint interjected. A smile spread across his face. “Is that why you spend so much time with that girl?” His eyes widened as he recalled a conversation long ago. “Wait. That’s why you made that girl suit all that time back, isn’t it?” Clint’s eyes were practically sparkling with amusement at this point. ”Oh my word. And then SHIELD came to her house. Imagine if one of them saw her in that.”

“Actually….”

Clint’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding. Okay. Now I’ve got to meet this kid.”

“Does this mean it’s okay for me to learn to do a backflip?” Lila said, looking to her dad.

Still smiling to himself, the archer shrugged. “That’s not my call to make, sweetheart.” He looked up at the spider hero, waiting for him to answer.

Peter looked to the little girl gazing up at him with anticipation and excitement. He scrunched up his face in thought. He didn’t see how it would really hurt. And he was all healed up now, so there wasn’t really a problem in a physical aspect.

With a sigh, Peter smiled at her and gestured for her to come to him. 

Lila absolutely beamed as she hopped off the group and ran to him. They walked over to a flatter patch of grass a hundred feet or so to the right of the remaining Bartons.

“So. Have you ever done anything like this before?” He didn’t want to send her headfirst into a flip if she’d never done anything like this before. That would just lead to injury (he’d know), and he really didn’t want to hurt Clint’s kid.

Lila nodded. “I’ve taught myself some basic moves. I wanted to look cool like Daddy when he’s on TV, so I watched YouTube videos. And Auntie Nat has taught me some things.”

Peter chuckled. “Not surprising. And yeah, he does look pretty cool on the TV, doesn’t he?”

Peter instructed her on the basics of stance. They practiced standing with their feet shoulder width apart, keeping their head straight. Then, they went to squatting. Then leaning forward and swinging their body, not yet leaving the ground. After quite a bit of work, he started to help her flip. He held onto her the whole time. It was always better to go slow. He’d know. He hadn’t when he’d learned it. Before long, she’d gotten the hang of it

As Lila seemed to be getting tired, Peter suggested they take a break. The two sat on the ground.

“You know,” Lila began, “Daddy’s teaching me to shoot too.” She looked towards the bench her family was at. “He’s a good teacher. I’ll be super good quick.”

“Yeah. I’m sure you will be.” He paused. “You know, your dad taught me to shoot too.”

Lila looked at him wide-eyed. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Peter smiled at the memory. “He and Nat were the first people I really felt connected to. They let me train with them.”

“Aunty Nat is really fun,” Lila said. Smiling big, she puffed out her chest. “I’m gonna be her when I grow up.”

Peter raised his eyebrows. “Really?”

The girl nodded.

“Well, I’m sure you could learn to be an agent like her if you put your mind to it.”

Lila narrowed her eyes at him. “Not like her.” She puffed out her chest even farther and stuck her chin in the air. “I’m going to be her. I’m going to be the next Black Widow.”

Peter blinked down at her. He had no idea what to say. It seemed so outlandish. First off, no one could compare to Natasha Romanoff. Second, why would the world need two Black Widows on the Avengers. All he managed to say was, “Oh, really?”

Lila started fiddling with a clump of grass by her foot. “Yeah. Emma and I were talking about it. One day, Daddy and his friends are going to retire, and we’re gonna be the next Avengers.”

“Oh, really?” 

That seemed to be his favorite phrase now. He genuinely couldn’t formulate anything else in his brain. What on earth was she talking about? Sure, it made sense that they wouldn’t be working forever. But he hadn’t really thought about someone stepping up to take their place. If anything, SHIELD would just take over.

“Yeah. See, Connor’s gonna be the next Hawkeye. He pretends like he doesn’t care about hero stuff, but I’ve seen him practicing shooting a lot. He’s super good. And he wears all black already, so it works. Then, I’m gonna learn to be Black Widow like Nat. That’s why I want to learn to do flips and stuff. She does that all the time. And Emma said she’d be the next Spiderman since she already has the suit. It’s a really cool suit, by the way. Maybe you could make me one but in all black.”

Peter found himself making incoherent noises in response. How was he supposed to respond to any of that? He didn’t want a team of kids taking on the world. He’d know. He had had to step up and take on the world, and he admitted he was too young. Granted, he had done it. But that didn’t mean it was good for him. And he didn’t want anyone to be in the position he was currently in. Not to mention that fact that he just learned he’d apparently been training his replacement.

He couldn’t imagine turning over the Spiderman mantle to someone else. That was a major part of his life. Possibly the biggest part. It was his identity. It was his everything. He could never give that up. Especially not if that entailed watching someone he cared about running around with said title. He couldn’t imagine sitting back and doing nothing. It wasn’t in his nature. If anyone had to rise to the call and throw themselves in danger, it would always be him.

Lila must have seen his worry. “Don’t worry,” She said. “You’ll still be on the team. You’re close enough to us, so you won’t be retired yet.”

“Oh, really?” There it was again.

“Yeah. But you’ll be the oldest, and you’ll have all the money cause you’re a Stark. That means you’ll end up being the next Ironman.”

“Oh, really?” To be fair, that actually was a logical conclusion. Especially for two little girls to come up with. That didn’t mean he liked it though.

“Well, yeah. We figured you’d start being Ironman now anyway.”

“And why’s that?” Hey! He finally said something new. Way to go mouth! Truly stepping up your game with such profound vocabulary.

“Well, your dad was hurt worse than my dad. The people on the TV and YouTube say he probably won’t be able to be Ironman anymore. That means you’ll have to do it for him.”

Peter felt his world implode. Yeah, he knew his dad was in bad shape. He never very well, and he still felt largely responsible. He had a feeling he always would.

But would Tony really not be able to be an Avenger anymore? That was insane to think about. And yet, it wasn’t. It made sense with his current state. And just because he hadn’t put it together didn’t mean Tony wasn’t already thinking about it.

Peter felt his chest tighten. Suddenly, he felt like he couldn’t breathe. His heart pounded in his ears. He felt his brain kicking into overdrive. He was about to have a panic attack, and he really didn’t want to do that in front of the Barton family. He knew he couldn’t sit there and talk to Lila anymore.

As calmly as he could in his rapidly declining state, he guided Lila back to her parents. He told Clint he was going to go really quick, but he’d be back as soon as he could to help him back to the tower. 

Clint eyed him warily, clearly seeing something was wrong. 

Peter didn’t give the man time to question it. He left the park as fast as his feet would carry him.


End file.
